Secrets, Twists, Turns, and Magic
by Tyanne
Summary: Harry and friends disappear for the summer. They return with secrets and drive Dumbledore batty as he tries to figure them out. Then...a series of rather batty twists and turns. And will they tell all?
1. It begins

**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything from the HP world…and I've never claimed to so don't bother trying to sue me…I'm broke as a joke.

**Summary**: Harry and friends disappear for a summer. When they return they've got numerous secrets that Albus Dumbledore and many others are just itching to be informed upon. Ever imagine what the illustrious Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry would do if denied that information? Pranks, classes, stalkers, anger, laughter, frusteration, and much more...it's going to be one hell of a year at Hogwarts.

**Rating: **Rated for language, adult themes, and various other things that younger peoples shouldn't be reading. In other words, if you can't handle any of that then find a different story to read. Of course, you're more than welcome to return and read this when you're ready. Laters! ((grins and waves))

* * *

School had only been out for about a week and already Harry Potter was back in the wizarding world. It would have been wonderful except for two major things. One, his godfather had been killed not even three weeks prior. Two, he was absolutely furious with Albus Dumbledore, Tom Riddle, and most of the adults he knew. Needless to say, he'd been doing a lot of thinking over the last couple days and only yesterday had made a huge discovery. 

Now he was in Diagon Alley after having run a few errands and was waiting for his three closest friends to show up. He'd sent them letters asking them to meet him here and to not tell anyone about it. He himself had snuck past the Order members standing watch on Privet Drive in order to avoid anyone knowing what he was doing. Hopefully things worked out so they'd be able to meet him.

After about ten minutes of waiting Harry spotted two redheads and a curly haired brunette making their way toward the meeting place he'd specified. After making sure there were no obvious followers, Harry pulled his cap down farther over his eyes and walked up to them.

"Hey guys," he said, making sure to keep his voice quiet.

Hermione looked up at him and gasped before hugging him. "Harry! What's going on? Why didn't you want anyone knowing about this?" she asked, taking her que from him to keep her voice low.

Harry just smiled and greeted the other two before suggesting that they get a butterbeer at the Leaky Cauldron. They agreed and the four made their way to the dimly lit place. Once inside, they acquired the use of a private room from Tom.

When they were all seated in the small room Ron turned to the raven haired boy. "What's going on Harry?"

Harry took a steadying breath and started speaking. "Well, remember when Dumbledore sent me to his office after the battle at the Department of Mysteries? When he came back he told me that the reason my parents had gone into hiding under the Fidelius Charm was because of a prophesy that pointed to Voldemort and one of two possible children. I was one and Neville Longbottom was the other. It turned out to be me that it meant." Here he paused, taking deep breaths to keep from losing his cool.

"What was the prophesy Harry?" Gin's voice was soft and caring. She'd picked up on the tension within him.

"Trelawney gave it. As far as I know, it's the first of two true prophesies that she's ever spouted. Dumbledore was there when she gave it and showed me the memory in his pensieve. It's burned into my head!" he paused and glanced up from the table top where his gaze had been directed. "Are you guys sure you want to hear it? It'll put you into more danger."

Ron snorted, "Too late. It's well known that the Weasleys stand against all You-Know-Who stands for and Hermione's muggle-born so the three of us are already high on his hit list. Granted, not as high as you are but we're up there. What's the prophesy Harry? Maybe we can help."

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ... The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..." Harry said quietly. The other three gasped before the room fell silent for a minute.

"Oddly enough, I'm not that surprised," Ron said. "I mean, think about it. Why else would You-Know-Who have tried killing you as a baby? Why would he continue to try killing you? If I was a psychotic madman I'd try to take out any possible enemy as soon as I could."

The two girls nodded in agreement and Harry was just happy that the three of them had taken this particular chunk of news so well. Now came the interesting part of his news. The part that made him roaring furious with one Albus Dumbledore, even beyond what he'd been the night he heard the prophesy.

Harry gave Ron a grin to show he was grateful for the understanding before speaking again. "That's not all. I found a letter for me from my parents. It turns out that Dumbledore went directly against what my parents wanted for me. In fact, my parents set something up in order for me to learn what I need to without Dumbledore nosing in."

Hermione's frowned, "What do you mean Harry?"

"Here, read this and you'll see what I mean." Harry handed her a letter from his pocket.

_Harry,_

_Oh my darling Harry. It's a sad reason that I've written this letter and I wish to the heavens that I didn't have to but I do. This letter was charmed to find you just after your fifth year of school and what you're about to read is something only three other people on this planet currently know. _

_I'm a Dreamer, a type of Seer. Your father James, Sirius, and Remus are the only ones who know this. Not even Albus Dumbledore knows. When I was a fourth year student I discovered that I have this ability when I started Dreaming and then what I'd Dreamed came true a few days later. Naturally, not everything I Dreamed happened that soon and sometimes I was even able to change the outcome I Saw. I kept this ability under wraps because I'd had a Dream not long after all this started that showed me what could happen if I told anyone too soon. I did tell James when we started dating but when he wanted to tell the Marauders I told him he could tell Sirius and Remus but no one else; I never really did trust Peter very much. I beg you to tell only those you trust above all and no one else._

_Now, the reason I'm writing this is because of a Dream I had. I know that your father and I won't be around to see your second birthday. I know that you'll have to live with my horrid sister and her bulbous husband and that you'll be treated badly. I also know that you'll have to fight Voldemort, due to both the Prophesy Trelawney gave and my own Dreams. I know that you're burning with the need to fight back and I want you to have every advantage possible so your father and I have set up a way for you to train, without the meddling of Albus. I know he means well but he really has to stop running everyone's lives. Especially since I know you'll end up with my sister because he _directly_ goes against our wishes on that respect._

_So, that said I'll give you some information to help you win your battles against Voldemort._

_James bought a small house in the United States that no one knows about other than you, me, your father, and those you let read this letter or tell._ _The house itself is warded from detection under a charm of my own design. Once you set foot inside the house, you will be hidden from detection charms of any kind and not even owls will be able to find you. Should you choose, you can go to this house and train for your battles. I will tell you that there will be a battle at the end of your sixth year. This may not seem like enough time but there's a trunk hidden in that house that has everything you'll need while training. Inside the rooms of that trunk, time passes differently. For every day inside the trunk, an hour passes outside the trunk. Don't worry, you won't age physically while inside the trunk. That continues at the rate of life outside the trunk._

_There will be a note on the kitchen table to tell you how to open the trunk without trouble. Make sure you've read that note or you won't be able to get into the trunk's rooms._

_This is your choice Harry and I don't want you doing this unless _you _want to, not because you think it's what we want. If you decide to go through with everything, all you have to do it grab the small chain inside the envelope this letter was in and say the activating word: redemption. Never forget that your father and I love you with all our hearts. Remember to follow your heart and we'll always be proud of you._

_Your loving mother,_

_Lily Potter_

Harry watched silently as his three friends read the letter. Once they'd finished they turned to him with shocked expressions on their faces. Finally Ginny spoke.

"Are you going to do this Harry?"

Harry nodded silently.

Hermione was the one who said what Harry was desperately hoping to hear. "Well in that case we're coming with you." The two redheads nodded firmly in agreement.

Harry let out a sigh of relief. "Great! I was afraid you guys wouldn't want to come with me but I didn't want to ask you to."

"You should know better than that by now mate. We're going to stick by you through thick and thin. So, when do we leave and will we be able to pull this off without anyone getting wind of this and trying to stop us?" Ron said.

"The sooner we leave the easier it'll be to avoid detection," Hermione offered her opinion.

Ginny nodded in agreement, "I say that we leave today. I can't think of anything that I need from home that I can't get later and my homework is already done. What about you guys?"

Ron and Hermione both said they didn't need anything and Harry said he needed to go to Privet Drive to get his things so his horrid relatives didn't throw them out. In the end it was decided to do any shopping they needed to get done before going to get Harry's things and leaving the country. It didn't take the four of them long at all to purchase the few minor things they needed before ducking into muggle London and hailing a cab to Privet Drive.

When they got there, the Dursley's were gone so all Harry had to do was slip into the house under his invisibility cloak and then back out. Grabbing his things was easy due to the fact that he's placed everything he owned into his trunk and asked Professor Lupin to shrink it and Hedwig's cage for him the other day, using the excuse that it would be easier to hide them from the Dursley's. Placing those in his pocket, Harry told Hedwig to meet him in the park down the block. Once Hedwig was out the window Harry silently moved back outside, thanking the stars above that Mundungus Fletcher was on duty once again instead of anyone else as Dung had a habit of dozing off.

The raven haired teen met up with his friends and stashed his cloak into the bag of things he'd bought at Diagon Alley and the four friends hurried down the street to the park. They found a small grove of trees and after making sure no one was watching them, they each grabbed the chain and Harry spoke the activation word after Hedwig had secured herself on his shoulder. There was a pulling at their stomachs and soon the four of them were away from England and in the middle of the United States.

* * *

After picking himself up off the ground where he'd landed on his rear, Harry looked around and noticed that they'd landed in the front yard of a pleasant little cottage in some woods. He had no idea just what part of the country they'd landed in but so far it looked pleasant enough; the woods had a serene feeling permeating them and he could hear the woodland animals running around in the trees. After determining that there was nothing around to threaten them, the quartet turned their attention back to the small house. 

It was, oddly enough, a log cabin with shutters over the two windows they could see on either side of the door. They made their way inside to find a cozy room with a large fireplace directly across from them and a doorway on either side of it. The room itself was paneled in a light colored wood and the floor was hardwood with colorful rugs scattered artfully around the room. The furniture in the main room was worn and comfortable looking, right down to the embroidery basket sitting next to a rocking chair in the corner. Through the door to the right of the fireplace it was possible to see a modern kitchen while the doorway on the left opened into a hallway.

Harry led the way down the short hall and discovered that there were four doors, two on the left and two on the right The door immediately on the right opened into a spacious bathroom that was tastefully decorated in creams and blues. The door directly across from that opened into a large bedroom. It was done in deep green and pale beige with a _huge_ bed taking up most of the space right in front of the door. Along each side wall was a wardrobe that, one holding men's clothing and the other holding women's clothing. The second room on the left opened in to a smaller, single occupancy bedroom that was done in the same colors as the other bedroom. Glancing at each other with puzzled expressions, the four shrugged and made for the last room on this side of the house.

It was a small, plain white room that held one thing: a trunk.

They knew they wouldn't be able to open it due to the letter Harry had received so they moved onto the kitchen to find the key to opening it. It was a muggle kitchen and decorated simply in blues and greens. At one end was a large oak table with a single item on it.

An envelope with Harry's name on it.

When Harry reached for it, Hermione stopped him. "Wait Harry. Something's off about this whole thing."

"What? What's wrong?" Harry's eyes darted to and fro, his hand moving for his wand.

Hermione shook her head, "It's just a feeling. This place feels lived in. Why else would there be clothes and that basket that's in the main room?"

Ginny frowned in thought and looked around before speaking, "She's right Harry. The place does feel lived in but I don't think we're in danger here. Call it a hunch but I think that letter or whatever it is in the clue to this little mystery."

Harry turned to the envelope on the table and took a deep breath to steady his racing heart. Slowly he picked up the envelope and opened it to pull out the paper inside. It had a short massage on it.

_To unlock the trunk push the hidden catch in the center of the lily on the lid. Only Potters or those keyed into the trunk by a family member can find it. Your questions will be answered once inside. Make sure you shut the lid behind you._

"Well," Ron broke the silence, "I guess we'd better do as the paper says."

The others agreed and they went back to the empty room. Upon closer inspection, the trunk turned out to be simple yet elegant cherry wood with metalwork accents. The metalworking was done in a platinum silver that was free of tarnish and there was an inlay on the lid that took the teens' breath away. It was done in the same silver as the rest of the metalwork but there were gold highlights to emphasis the design. In the center was a graceful lily flower, on the right side of the trunk was a magnificent stag, and on the left of the lily was a playful dog that looked suspiciously like a Grim. The teens were silent for a moment or two as they tried to get a grip on the feelings that rushed through them at the sight, especially Harry.

Finally calming himself, Harry reached out and brushed his fingers across the center of the lily. Feeling the slightest of creases, he pushed down and heard a soft click. Glancing at the others he gently pulled the lid open to find the top of a ladder stuck against the inside of the trunk and disappearing into an unknown area within the trunk. Shrugging he started to climb down with his friends following, Ron pulling the trunk shut behind him. As one the four friends turned to face the room and froze, not believing their eyes.

They had to be seeing the impossible.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore was spending an early summer evening reading a book when a very anxious werewolf rushed into his office and startled the headmaster enough that he almost dropped his book. Putting his stocking covered feet onto the floor, he turned to Remus and spoke. "What can I help you with Remus?" 

"Harry's gone missing!" the Marauder looked ready to pull his hair out. "I went to visit him and I found all of his things gone. There wasn't a trace of a struggle or any unidentified wizarding folk at the Dursley's place."

Albus felt like his stomach had fallen through the bottom of his chair but tried to look reassuring as he worked to calm the upset werewolf. "We'll check with Miss Granger. I'm sure she'll have a clue as to where he's gone off to so it won't be too long before we have him safe and sound back at his aunt's."

"She's gone too and I've got reason to believe she's with Harry."

The headmaster froze for a split second, "What brought you to that conclusion?"

Taking a deep breath, Remus began. "When I found Harry gone I went to Hermione's to see if she had any clue as to his whereabouts. She wasn't there but her mother was. She said that Hermione had called this afternoon and asked her parents if she could go on a summer trip with Harry and two other friends. Apparently Harry was going anyway and wanted some company. Hermione told her parents that the four of them would be careful and that she didn't have to worry about her things as Harry was going to buy them all new things when they got where they were going. If I had to make a guess I'd say the other two going were Ron and Ginny Weasley."

"Hmm," Albus thought for a moment, "my guess is Molly wouldn't let any of them go anywhere without clearing it first. I'll floo her and see if the children are at the Burrow."

Unfortunately for the headmaster, Molly's head appeared in the fireplace just as he was getting up. "Oh! Albus I was hoping to catch you. Ron and Ginny ran off to Diagon Alley earlier today by themselves and haven't come back yet. The twins told me a little bit ago that they'd seen them there with Harry and Hermione. Would it be possible for you to have Harry's guards send them home?"

Remus hid a grimace and discreetly stuck his fingers in his ears while the headmaster answered the redheaded mother, knowing very well what was going to happen in just a few seconds.

"I'm afraid I can't do that Molly. It seems that Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny have run off on their own. I myself didn't know any of them were missing until Remus informed me of it not ten minutes ago." Molly's reaction could be heard in the hallway outside the office.

"WHAT?"

* * *

Albus sat in his chair at the head table, waiting for the students to arrive so Minerva could lead the new first years in for the Sorting. As the older students entered, his mind wandered to the four new teachers this year and the first time he'd met them three weeks ago... 

_The headmaster sighed, almost frustrated enough to bang his head on the desk. After that Umbridge woman last year and the horrid scores in Defense, he wanted and needed to bring the students up to the levels they _should_ have been at when summer began. So far though, none of the applicants possessed the qualifications and skills needed for such a task. He was just starting to shuffle through the pile of resumes again when his office door flew open._

_In walked Remus Lupin and three strangers. The werewolf didn't beat around the bush, "Albus have you filled the Defense position yet?" When the headmaster shook his head the man continued, "Well what would I say if I told you that I've managed to find you four Defense teachers that can work together to get the students up to par and possibly above?"_

"_Am I correct when I assume that the four would be you and your friends?" the older wizard looked over the top of his glasses._

"_Yes. This is Eros Cloud, his brother Apollo, and Apollo's wife Kleio." Remus pointed to each of his friends in turn._

_Eros was a tall man, right around six feet with hazel eyes and short black hair_ _that looked as if it curled when longer. Apollo was a bit slimmer and less than an inch shorter than his brother and wore his shoulder length black hair pulled back in a leather tie. His gray eyes showed the same intelligence and mischief as his brother. Kleio's long brown hair brushed the small of her back and seemed to enhance the cinnamon brown of her eyes._ _She was shorter than her husband by a good three inches or so but slim with a simple beauty to her features. _

_After questioning them for a moment or two on their knowledge, Albus was silent for a moment before he spoke again. "I think we could make something like that work. Shall we iron out the details after getting you four settled in then? I'm rather anxious to see what the four of you can do together, especially since I know what Remus can do when working alone!"_

The doors opened, jerking Albus back to the present as the deputy headmistress lead the first years in for the Sorting. The Hat gave it's customary song, then Minerva called upon the students and they were Sorted. Before too long it was done and everyone was seated. Barely holding back a sigh the headmaster stood and signaled for silence. When all eyes were on him he began.

"Welcome back to Hogwarts! I would like to make a few announcements before our brains are occupied with feeding ourselves. First, please remember that the Forbidden Forest is off limits to all students." Albus barely kept himself from glancing at the empty space where Harry and his three friends usually sat. He'd tried to find the four missing students but nothing had worked. Not tracking spells on their letters or the owls carrying them; not Mrs. Weasley's clock (which continually pointed to Unknown); not locator spells; nothing. Albus only hoped they were still alive.

"Second, Mr. Filch has added numerous items to the Banned Items list and that list is posted outside his office for those who wish to read it. Finally I would like to announce that we have four Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers this year. They are Professor Eros Cloud, Professor Apollo Cloud, Professor Kleio Cloud, and the returning Professor Remus Lupin. I believe that the Professors Cloud will have to devise a way for everyone to determine which of them you are speaking to. For now though, I've just a few more words before we fill our bellies. Bibble, babble, and bubble!"

With that the tables filled with food and everyone dug in. Albus firmly kept his wandering mind in check; not wanting to speculate uselessly on where Harry and his three friends had wandered off to and why they hadn't returned yet.

* * *

The next morning saw one very shocked and confused student body. Breakfast had just started when the doors opened to reveal a slim figure reading a large book. All eyes were fixed on the unknown person and it wasn't until she had taken a seat at the Gryffindor table that she was recognized. 

Oddly enough, it was Draco Malfoy that put a name with the face. "Granger? When the hell did she get so hot?" he blurted out without thinking. Luckily for Draco, there were no teachers in the Hall and everyone was to stunned by the changes in Hermione to notice his slip.

The brunette Gryffindor had indeed changed. She was taller, right around five feet nine inches in height. Her figure was slim and toned with curves in all the right places and a grace that would make a super model jealous. Her hair was cut to chin length and hung in a riot of sleek curls with strands of silver vibrantly standing out against the dark brown. When she glanced up at Draco's comment it was possible to see that her chocolate brown eyes seemed to shimmer with power, confidence, and knowledge. All in all, Hermione was stunning with a captivating beauty that held at least one person in the Hall spellbound.

Not paying the slightest bit of attention to the gawking students after glancing at Draco, Hermione continued to read as she nibbled on her breakfast. Before too long the students turned back to their own meals. Whispers ran around about Hermione's change but once again the opening of the Hall doors grabbed the attention of most. This time it was relatively easy to identify the newcomers.

The shorter of the two young men was about five feet ten inches tall and lean with whipcord muscles. His jet black hair was spiked and just long enough that a bit fell into his eyes, giving him rakish look while conveniently covering his famous scar. The tips of his hair were colored a dark green that went well with the black hair. He no longer wore glasses and his vibrant green eyes seemed to glow with power.

The taller one stood at six feet tall with broader shoulders and a slightly more muscular build. The copper red hair on his head was also spiked but a bit shorter with dark gray tips. His piercing blue eyes held the same glow of power that his companion's did.

Both boys moved with a grace and ease of a well accomplished fighter and it struck many students that the two were moving like predators. Still, quite a few girls sighed as their eyes followed the two as they sat down across from Hermione. They ignored the Hall and continued their discussion without pause.

"Oh come on Harry, tell me what happened. Please," the red head said as he piled food on his plate.

Harry smirked, "It's not my fault you don't remember what happened Ron."

"Hey, that is _not_ my fault and you know it! Moony was the one mixing the drinks and I seem to remember you having quite a few yourself. Now tell me what happened or I'll tell a certain someone what you did the last time we had a binge," Ron growled.

Holding up his hands in defeat Harry gave in. "Alright, I'll spill. You jumped off the fifth floor balcony into the pool. You made one hell of a splash."

Ron stared at his best friend for a few seconds before pumping his fist in the air, "Awesome! I wish I could remember doing that."

"I'm not surprised you don't remember," interjected a new voice. "You were way beyond tanked when you did it." All eyes in the room flew to the newcomer standing behind Hermione.

She was petite, about five-four with a deliciously curved figure. When she moved to sit it was possible to see the grace in her toned muscles. Her shoulder length hair was a myriad of reds and subtle oranges with streaks of blue woven through it, giving her hair the appearance of flames. Her cinnamon eyes almost sparked with power and mischief. When she was sitting next to Hermione it was easy to see that both girls were equally attractive but the redhead's beauty was the more subtle of the two with an alluring quality that was almost mystifying. It was only due to the similarities between her and Ron that allowed the students to identify her as Ginny Weasley as she'd changed about as much as Hermione had.

Finally though, Hermione closed her book and joining the conversation. "We were all pretty toasted last night. It was fun though." The other students wondered what in the world the quartet was talking about before shrugging their shoulders and returning to their meals once more.

"Hey Mione, what book were you just reading?" Gin asked. The two boys rolled their eyes and dug into their breakfast, intent on blocking out the girls' conversation.

* * *

An hour later, the four Gryffindors found themselves in the Headmaster's office. It was highly amusing to them that he hadn't been able to wait even a day before attempting to get information out of them. 

Once they were all seated before the old wizard's desk, said old wizard sat back in his chair with an annoying twinkle in his eyes. Off to the side sat Professors Snape and McGonagall, the only two teachers on staff who were members of the Order. After a few minutes of silence the headmaster held up a small dish full of yellow candies.

"Lemon drop?" he offered but put the bowl down after they each declined. "Very well. I suppose you know why I've called here so I'm not going to beat around the bush. Where were you this summer?"

Harry raised an eyebrow and said, "Right. And why would we tell you that? It's not your place to ask anyway." McGonagall's jaw dropped and Snape's face started to turn a rather interesting shade of pink.

The Headmaster spoke before either one of the house Heads could react. "What makes you say that?"

"Simple. What we were doing this summer was and is not school related and as such you have no authority to try controlling our lives like you've been doing to me for the last five years or more. Am I clear enough?" Harry spoke in a cool voice.

Before any of the teachers could speak again, Hermione stood and smoothed her robes regally. "As this meeting is not related to school, we shall be taking our leave. Good day Professors." With that, she turned and glided from the room with the other three right on her heels.

An artist would have had an amusing time painting a portrait of the moment as the jaws of all three teachers seemed to reach the ground while they stared after the teens in what one could only call shock.

* * *

A couple hours later, in a double potions class, a rather bored red head sat literally twiddling her thumbs. The lesson for the day had been to brew the aging potion, which in all reality only took thirty minutes. For some stupid reason though, everyone else kept screwing up a simple potion. Finally getting sick of being bored, Ginny took stock of what she had in front of her and what was available for the students to use. Making a decision, she started preparing the ingredients for a second potion while humming a song she'd learned over the summer. Before she realized it the class was ending and Professor Snape was glaring at her while she bottled up the potion as her classmates fled the room. 

"Miss Weasley," he sneered.

"Yes sir?"

"Just what exactly do you think you doing?"

Grinning impishly, Ginny set the vial next to the other and leaned back to look up at the towering professor. "Brewing a potion sir."

Snape sneered, "As I recall, your assignment was to brew the aging potion. What you were just finishing up is in no way related to said potion."

The petite young woman held up a finger elegantly, "Except the fact that all the ingredients are the same save one. That one ingredient was available for use this lesson so I decided to do something other than sit here and be bored while I watched my classmates make idiotic mistakes."

"Tell me Miss Weasley, what potion did you just brew?" Snape raised an eyebrow.

"Draft of Peace." Ginny studied her nails, completely at ease even though Snape was glaring daggers at her.

"I highly doubt you would be able to brew that one Miss Weasley as we have not covered that in class yet," Snape's face was unreadable.

Ginny stood, shouldered her bag, grabbed the potions in one hand and faced the potions professor. "I studied over the summer and had an excellent tutor. Here's my assignment and one extra. Do what you want with it. Good day sir." With that the Gryffindor strolled out of the room. Professor Snape watched her go before looking at the two potions in his hand.

* * *

** A/N: ** Well, there we have it. The first chapter of what will hopefully be a full story complete with a sequel. I can't guarentee that I'll update regularly but I don't think this will be a story I even want to think about abandoning. I've got many ideas for things I want to happen, both in this and its sequel. So, that said, remember to review. Constructive reviews are great, even if they point out flaws. I don't have a beta reader so I'm expecting a fair number of those...just don't be to mean...please? Type at you next chapterTyanne  



	2. Unfolding Clues

**Disclaimer:** Do I _look_ like J. K. Rowling? No. Well then, it's obvious I'm not her and therefore don't own anything of the HP world. Not the books, not the movies, not the characters. I would like to think that I own the plot of this fic though.

**Important Author's Note: **I am reposting this chapter because I changed one of the scenes in a major way. I'd been having trouble with it and a few reviewers were able to give me the fresh perspective I needed to fix it. I mean, lets face it, even I didn't like that scene. Also, I know I said that I'd be doing a sequel for this fic and I'm still planning on doing that part of this storyline but what I want to know is this: **Do you, the readers, want me to keep this as two separate fics or merge them into one? **Review or drop me a private message to let me know. To all who have reviewed this, my thanks and appriciation. It means alot to me. Especially those who gave me pointers, and yes I did try to take them into account while writing. Anyway, read on! (and check for another note at the end.)

This chapter was reposted on February 8th, 2006.

* * *

The library wasn't very crowded as it was only the second week of the school year. Still, that's were Hermione Granger was found, busily writing in a muggle notebook with an open text in front of her. Across the room from her sat a young man who also appeared to be studying. However, this was not the case. 

'She's beautiful. How can I get her to talk to me? As far as she's concerned I don't even exist,' the boy muffled a groan as his eyes stayed locked on Hermione. 'She's biting her lip again. Merlin! Does she know what that does to me? I can just imagine her doing that while I ride her until she screams,' the boy shook himself out of his musings as he felt his pants becoming tighter in a certain region. Dragging his mind away from that topic he settled on another, 'What is she writing in that notebook? She hasn't so much as looked at her text for at least a half an hour.'

* * *

Indeed, Hermione hadn't looked up for quite some time. The young man watching her would have been stunned had he known what she was writing, and reading. You see, Hermione's notebook wasn't a normal notebook. It had been enchanted to connect with three others and what was written in one would appear in the others. A nice little quirk was that only the owners of the connected notebooks could understand what was written. Everyone else saw notes on schoolwork. Right now, Hermione was having a conversation with Ginny who happened to be in History of Magic. 

_Is everything ready? _Ginny asked Hermione.

_Yes. I planted it this morning after he left the Hall._ _Ron and Harry are making sure they're seen wherever they go so it can't be pinned on them. Who knew that my reputation as a goody-goody know-it-all would come in handy for this stuff?_

Ginny's reply held more than a hint of laughter, _Yeah but only after we got you to help us pull off that stunt this summer. I don't think I'll ever forget the look on Moony's face when Prongs and Padfoot started fighting over who would get to marry him. I though Foxy was going to pass out she was laughing so hard._

_No kidding. Anyway, the spells are laid out and the trigger is planted. All we have to do now is wait for lunch. I'm just glad none of us have potions today._

_I agree. I'll see you later. Class is about over and I've got Charms next._

_Yeah, I've got Transfiguration next anyway. Later Gin._

Hermione closed her notebook and focused her eyes on the book in front of her as she let her mind wander. Indeed, they'd spent the summer with Sirius, James, and Lily with Remus visiting each week. When they'd first entered the trunk all four teens had been floored but soon snapped out of it and had their wands pointed at the three adults. It had taken a bit but after proving that it was truly them, Lily had gone on to explain how she and James had survived that fateful Halloween night and later saved Sirius's life in the Department of Mysteries.

Hermione's eyes glazed over as she fell farther into her memories.

_"How did you survive though? I mean, Hagrid said that he'd seen both of your bodies when he picked Harry up," Hermione's sharp mind had swiftly jumped to one of the many inconsistencies._

_Lily sighed as she glanced at her dazed son. "It was rather complicated. I'd Dreamed about the attack and I knew that it was necessary that everyone believe James and I to be dead. As to how we did it? I'd found a spell that creates exact look-alikes of the casters. We created copies and then waited outside under James's invisibility cloak so we could control them. That evening is probably one of the hardest I've ever been through. It needed to be done though otherwise every single person in this room would be dead by now."_

_The girls gasped and Ron turned pale while Harry just sat there._

_Ginny asked the next question, "What about Sirius? How did you manage that without anyone knowing?"_

_"Lils here invented an improved invisibility spell that nothing can see through, not even Moody's magical eye. We snuck into the DoM a few hours before everything went down, invisible of course, and planted ourselves in the Veil Room," James answered. "When Sirius was dueling Bella, Lily cast an illusion of Sirius getting hit by that stunner and knocked into the Veil. At the same time, I cast the invisibility spell on Padfoot here and summoned him out of the way."_

_Silence reigned as the teens digested this information. Harry stood and started pacing behind the chair he'd been sitting in. Sensing that Harry was upset about something, Ginny decided to see if she could get him to talk._

_"What's wrong Harry?"_

_"None of your bloody business. Why are you here anyway?" he practically snarled as he turned to her, allowing everyone to see the anger in his eyes._

_Something sparked in the petite redhead's eyes. Yet her voice was calm when she answered him, "I'm here because I'm needed."_

_The three adults exchanged looks as Harry faced Ginny full on, his eyes almost giving off sparks. "Why would we need _you_ when we've done just fine without you for the last few years?"_

_Ron winced when he saw the look on his sister's face. She was as formidable as her mother when angered. Sometimes worse._

_"You just _had _to say that didn't you Potter. Apparently your brain is too small to comprehend just what it is you need me around for," she sneered. "Well I'll tell you. You're moody, stubborn, and won't listen to what anyone tells you when you're like that. _That _is why I'm here. Nobody else has the balls to stand up to you. Ron and Mione try helping you in their own ways but you just ignore them!"_

_"What do you know about it?"_

_"A hell of a lot more than you think I do! You forget who people would call for when you were being an ass last year. You forget who it is that knows more about the students of Hogwarts than the three of you combined. You forget who it is that was possessed by Riddle for an entire year!" The five onlookers jumped when she yelled the last part._

_Harry paled a bit, his anger cooling. "Ginny, I'm sorry. I forgot again."_

_She nodded stiffly. "Now that we've got your head back on straight, what's bothering you this time?"_

_Looking into her eyes, Harry knew that he'd better answer straight or she was likely to cut off his head. "Why, if my parents were alive, did I have to live with the Dursleys? Why didn't they come back and get me? Or try to write me?" the anger was back in his voice._

_"I can't tell you that Harry. Although, since your mother is a true Seer she probably didn't have a choice. Would you rather that they be dead in truth, and everyone else you care about with them?"_

_Harry sighed, "I see what you mean. It's just hard."_

_Lily stood, thinking it clear. "Harry, I'm sorry." She went to hug him and he stepped back, glaring at her._

_"Just because I said I get it doesn't make it suddenly alright. You left me there!" Lily winced at his loud tone._

_James jumped to his feet, "Don't take that tone with your mother. Apologize right now."_

_Harry's green eyes met the hazel of his father's, "Why should I?"_

_At that, the room erupted with noise. James was trying to get Harry to apologize, Lily was trying to calm James down, and Sirius was trying to mediate between father and son. Ron and Hermione had moved to flank Harry with Hermione trying to get him to calm down while Ron was telling James off. Ginny was, oddly enough given her own temper, not saying anything._

_This continued for a couple minutes until the young redhead got sick of it. Taking a deep breath she stepped up next to the group and let loose. "SHUT UP!"_

_Silence met her and she glared back. "Will you people just grow up? Geez. First of all, Harry. They are your parents no matter what you do. True, they did leave you but they also had to watch someone cast the death curse at you as well as have to live with only knowing the snippets your mother Dreamed."_

_She turned to James and Lily. "You two really should know better than to expect your son, whom thought you were dead up until today, to welcome you back with open arms. Now I don't know the details about how he was treated as he grew up but I do know that it wasn't pretty. Besides that, it's not my story to tell and don't pester him about it. If it's one thing I know about Harry its that he hates being pushed." She paused briefly. "Sirius, just stay out of it. It's really not your place. Same goes for you two," she pointed to Ron and Hermione._

_Hermione studied her closest female friend, "Where did all that come from Gin?"_

_"Don't know. I just know I'm right," Ginny shrugged._

_"What about you? You've got even less right to say anything than they do!" snapped Harry._

_"I know that," Ginny's voice was calm and smooth. "I'm going to go outside and let you people work out your problems. If you decide you don't want me here then I'll leave without a fuss." She held his gaze calmly for a few seconds before turning and leaving the trunk, leaving a slightly stunned audience behind._

Hermione pulled herself back to the present and gathered her things before leaving the library. Ginny had been outside lying in the grass watching the clouds when the trio found her about five minutes later, real time. Ron and Hermione stayed by the door to the house while Harry went and sat next to her. The two of then hadn't spoken loud enough to be heard but Hermione knew what had been said anyway. After Ginny had walked out the three of them had ignored the adults and moved off to talk between themselves. They'd pretty much unanimously decided that they needed her around, if only to put their heads back on straight when it needed to be done. After Harry and Ginny had joined them the four teens had gone back to the trunk to explore it. Since then the four friends had been having the best summer of their lives and the school year was looking to be rather fun too.

* * *

Transfiguration was Hermione's favorite subject and Professor McGonagall was her favorite teacher; at least, up until this year. The subject still fascinated the young witch but she had become disillusioned of the older witch over the summer and first month of the school year. She was currently sitting in the back row of desks with Harry and Ron in Transfiguration and to tell the truth, she was bored. When she'd learned what assignment McGonagall had assigned she barely held back a frustrated sigh. Having mastered the task the summer before, she swiftly performed it and turned her attention to her two friends. The two boys were concentrating on the task and she let a small smile flit across her face as she watched them once again achieve success with the spell. 

"Miss Granger!" Hermione jumped when the Professor's voice sounded right behind her.

Turning she faced the stern woman, "Yes Professor?"

"Is there some reason you are staring into space instead of working on the assignment I've assigned?"

Hermione hid a smile, "I've already finished it."

Professor McGonagall raised an eyebrow, "Would you care to demonstrate?" Hermione didn't hesitate in carrying out the request and soon she had a simple challis in front of her instead of a solid lump of iron. "Nicely done Miss Granger but I will not have anyone sitting idle in my class. Please find something to do, preferable related to this subject." Hermione could see the veiled pride in the professor's eyes and it went a long way in preventing her from getting angry with the comment.

"Yes Professor." Hermione spent the rest of class making small, detailed adjustments to her chalice.

* * *

Students were quietly enjoying their lunches when an odd sound echoed through the Hall. All eyes scanned the large room and eventually landed on a red faced Severus Snape. The Potions professor had just seated himself at the head table to the wondrous sound of a fart. Placing his hands on the table, he stood and turned to look down at his chair before reaching down and picking up a muggle whoopee cushion. The look on Snape's face triggered the first of the giggles and soon the entire hall was laughing. 

_POP! _

There were few screams and shrieks but overall the laughter in the room became even louder.

Roughly half the students had been pranked and the effect was different for each house. The Gryffindors had turned purple from their skin to their cloths while the Ravenclaws were wearing bright green tutus that bounced when they moved. The Hufflepuffs were dressed in clown suits and taking it in good nature as they honked their bright red noses. The Slytherins didn't look to happy; they were dressed in fluffy pink bunny suits.

The laughter and shouting was silenced by a bright flash of light that caused all eyes to turn to the enchanted ceiling. Scrawled in the air, just below the rafters was rainbow colored writing.

_Courtesy of the Marauders._

Needless to say, the students immediately started speculating on the identity of the Marauders. The teachers in the know, however, turned to Remus Lupin but he looked just as surprised as the rest of them while the Clouds simply looked confused. Their eyes next turned to where Harry and his three friends sat only to find that all four of them were laughing at their purple skin. Clueless as to the identity of the newest crowd of pranksters, the teachers sighed and hoped that things didn't get too out of control this year.

* * *

Gryffindor Quidditch tryouts. That was going to be the name of the game the next Saturday and the Co-Captains were out on the pitch waiting for Katie, Ginny, and those trying out. They needed to fill two of the three chaser positions and both beater positions since Sloper and Kirke had both decided that they didn't wish to play this year. That left the team at three full players and one partial player. 

"At least we've got two great Chasers this year. Ginny's a shoe-in," Harry said to the tall red head next to him.

Ron nodded, "Yeah but we've still got to do the whole 'make her try out' thing. Geez McGonagall is stuffy sometimes. Glad Mione doesn't idolize her much anymore." Harry nodded his head in agreement and looked to the large crowd that was entering the Pitch. Walking next to Ginny was Hermione…carrying her own broom.

"Hey Harry? You every wonder what those two were hiding from us when they'd wander off on their own?"

"Yep and I think we're about to find out what it was. When did she get a broom anyway?" Harry asked rhetorically. By then, everyone had reached them and Ron stepped forward after casting a sonorous spell.

"Glad to see so many make it this year. First up will be Beater tryouts. Everyone else can have a seat off to the side for now." Once everyone else had vacated the pitch for the stands, Ron turned to the beater tryouts and canceled the sonorous spell. "Right. We're going to randomly pair you up and have two pairs go head to head for five minutes. The object will be to protect your own 'player' while trying to hit the other pair's 'player.' This will test your aim, control, and strength all in one go."

The two captains quickly paired everyone up and set up opposing pairs before taking to the air. The next thirty minutes proved to be both disastrous and interesting. Colin Creevey almost unseated himself when he missed the Bludger and smacked the handle of his broom instead. There were a few mediocre players but some surprises came in the forms of Seamus Finnegan and Neville Longbottom. Each boy had shown skill, power, and a precision that was deadly if they wanted. The two had been paired with two of the better players but Harry decided that he wanted to see what the two of them could do when paired up.

After all had gotten their turn, Ron and Harry joined them on the ground.

"Good job everyone. Unfortunately, there can only be two beaters. We'd like the following people to stay for another round as it was rather difficult to chose. Neville Longbottom, Seamus Finnegan, Geoffrey Hooper and Euan Abercrombie," Harry announced. "The rest of you are free to go or watch from the stands. Thanks for coming out today."

After pairing the four boys up they took to the air again. This time it was Neville and Seamus against Euan and Geoffrey, their previous partners. It became obvious to everyone who would be chosen as the beaters over the course of the next five to ten minutes. Neville and Seamus controlled the entire show, keeping Harry busy dodging Bludgers while they kept them away from Ron with ease.

The tryouts for Chasers went fairly smoothly, if you exclude the wondrous spectacle of

Lavender Brown deciding that she wanted to play Quidditch. The girl could barely get a broom five feet off the ground before panicking. Luckily, that passed fairly swiftly and without any harm to her.

Ginny was, as expected, a guaranteed pick for chaser. A small third year named Natalie McDonald had almost as much talent for the position as Ginny did and both Captains thought she would be mature enough to handle the position the next year since this was Katie Bell's last year. The biggest surprise of the day though, was when Hermione took to the air. She flew as if she belonged there, when both Harry and Ron knew that she hadn't been the best of flyers up until this last summer. Harry caught a small smirk on Ginny's face and guessed that the petite redhead had helped Hermione overcome her dislike of flying and playing Quidditch during the summer.

"Alright, great job everyone and thanks for coming out today," Ron said after everyone had once again touched down and the captains had asked Katie's opinion. "Our picks for Beaters are Neville and Seamus. For Chasers we've decided on Ginny, and Hermione." There were a few groans but for the most part everyone took it well as the talent in those four players was obvious. "Next year if Harry and I are still the Captains we'll be choosing a complete reserve team so keep practicing and hopefully we'll see everyone out here again next year!" Grins split faces and everyone still there wandered away, leaving the team alone on the field.

Everyone turned to Hermione and Ginny before Ron voiced what everyone wanted to know. "When the hell did you learn to fly and enjoy it? Last I recall you hated it."

The curly haired brunette laughed and answered, "Ginny and Foxy taught me over the summer. We'd usually wait until you were gone though. I wanted to surprise you."

"I think its safe to say that you surprised everyone this time Mione," Harry grinned. Everyone laughed as they trooped off the pitch and back up to the school.

* * *

Headmaster Dumbledore had tried everything he could think of to get the four young Gryffindors to speak of where they'd been over the summer. Unfortunately he'd had very little luck…so he decided that if the children didn't tell him this time he'd call in the big guns. He would call Molly Weasley in. 

Currently though, he was gazing across his desk at the four Gryffindors, "You do realize that you must tell me where you four were this summer do you not?"

"Last I checked Headmaster, you were not the legal guardian for any of us therefore we must tell you nothing of our summer activities," Harry's voice was soft.

Albus nodded, having expected this. "Very well. I shall simply call in one who can find out where you were. I can not call in the Grangers as they gave permission for you Miss Granger; nor can I ask the Dursleys as they celebrated your leaving Mr. Potter. I can however, call in Mrs. Weasley. Do you really want me to do that?" He gazed over the top of his glasses, fully expecting at least one of the four to cave at that threat.

"Go for it," Ginny smirked.

Albus made the floo call and it wasn't very long at all before the red headed mother was stepping into the room. After hugging each teen she seated herself in the chair the headmaster had created for her.

"Molly, the reason I called you here is to ask your assistance in finding out where these four ran off to without permission," Albus said, sure he would get the information he wanted this time.

"I'm afraid I can't help you there Albus. Hermione had permission and I gave mine once they explained themselves. Besides, I really don't think its any of your business what my children and their friends do over the summer," Molly replied.

"You must tell me Molly. Their safety was in question and you know we really can't have them out running around without protection," Albus said smoothly, obviously expecting her to capitulate.

The redheaded mother shook her head, "They were far safer than you could hope them to be. Why do you think I stopped pushing the search for them so hard?"

Ginny couldn't help snickering at the bamboozled expression on the Headmaster's face. Turning to her mother she said, "Besides that mum, we didn't tell you where we were. Only with whom."

"True. Now, I do need to get back to the Burrow and I'm sure the children have classes to get to." Turning to the teens she hugged each and sent them out the door with a comment to not get into trouble. Once they were out the door she turned to Albus. "Headmaster. You will not pester my children or their friends about their summer activities or I shall report you to the school board. It is none of your business in any way, not even if it involves Harry. I'll also remind you that I was trained in Occlumency by an Unspeakable during the first war therefore you shall not be getting into my mind anytime soon. Good day." Leaving the old man a little shell shocked at her stout dressing down, Molly turned to the fireplace and flooed home.

* * *

The rest of the month flew by as the students firmly settled into the routine of school. During that time, numerous members of the D.A. approached Harry to inquire whether or not it was going to continue. His response was to keep their coins on hand and a wink. 

Over the course of the summer the four Gryffindors have decided that continuing the D.A. (Harry refused to call it Dumbledore's Army, mainly because it wasn't) would be beneficial, as long as certain people didn't know about it…namely Dumbledore and certain Slytherins. So, in the first week of October, Harry set the time and date for the first meeting of the year to take place.

The night of the meeting, Friday, the four Gryffindors were in the Room of Requirement getting everything ready. About fifteen minutes before the meeting was to start, Harry started watching the Marauders' Map and letting the other members in when they reached the door. Once everyone was there, he locked and sealed the door so nobody could enter or eavesdrop. Moving to the 'front' of the room he joined Ron, Hermione, and Ginny on the small raised platform. Waiting patiently he stood as everyone, including Cho Chang and minus Marietta Edgecombe, settled down and turned to gaze at him. Seeing he had everyone's attention he began.

"Welcome back everyone. Many of you have asked if the D.A. will be continuing this year. The answer is yes but it'll be different than last year. For one, we've got great Defense teachers this year," he paused as that comment was met with a resounding cheer. Professors Cloud and Professor Lupin were exceedingly popular. Grinning he motioned for silence before continuing, "The biggest differences will be the material, the structure and secrecy charms, and members. We'll touch on what we study in class if you want but the four of us," here he motioned to himself, Ron, Hermione, and Ginny, "thought that some physical defense and training would be a good thing. That way if you're ever without your wand you've got a fighting chance. Sound good?"

Most people nodded but a few looked a little skeptical and Harry made a note to take care of that.

"Last year we were just a group of students trying to learn. This year we're going to be a group of students training to fight. I'll go into the reason why later and give everyone a chance to decide whether or not they can handle what's going to be happening. This year the D.A. is going to be more structured. We're going to assign everyone to a group, each with it's own leader. The purpose of these groups is twofold. One, any new members we bring in will need to catch up with everyone else and these smaller groups will allow for more intense learning. Second, we will become a fighting force to be reckoned with should the worst happen and the castle is attacked. The teachers are too few and the auror response time to slow to be of assistance. Granted, this will be put to a vote since none of us want to force anyone to do what they aren't willing to. For those that want to help but aren't comfortable with being in a battle, there are plenty of alternative positions that can be filled without being in danger. Should anyone decide that they don't want to continue in this way for whatever reason, we won't hold it against you. Those that do stay, we've got a new parchment for you to sign that has stronger secrecy charms on it than the one last year. It'll still only allow you to speak about the D.A. with each other when there's no chance of being overheard."

There were quite a few thoughtful faces in the crowd and some shocked ones as well. Harry decided to drop the last shock before they could start talking amongst themselves.

"The last thing is this: new members. After some thought we've decided that we will expand our membership. Hermione has a parchment where you can put down the names of those you trust or feel would want to take an active part in defending the castle and bringing down Death Eaters. This includes students of any house, including Slytherin."

Quite a few protests went up at that.

"Why would we want a slimy Slytherin? They're all just Death Eaters in training!" a voice called out.

Ginny rolled her eyes, "Honestly people. Don't you ever watch how other people interact? Sure, we don't want people like Malfoy, Parkinson, or Zabini but what about people who don't side with them? I've noticed quite a few Slytherins who don't interact with that bunch. Besides, we need some Slytherins. How else are we gonna know what the baby Death Gobblers are doing? That and they're students here too. They deserve the right to protect the school if they want to; and can you imagine how Malfoy would squirm if he was dethroned by D.A. Slytherins?"

Laughter rolled through the room.

Harry took over again. "So. That's the situation. Take a few minutes to decide but no leaving the room in the meantime. If anyone decides to leave, I'll unlock the door after that."

Stepping back to lean against the wall behind him, he turned his gaze to his closest friends. The four stood in a small circle as they watched the room out of the corners of their eyes. "So how many do you think will leave?" Ron asked.

Hermione shook her head, "It's hard to say. I'm just glad Edgecombe didn't show. I'd be tempted to knock her block off."

"Mione, for shame." Ginny scolded mildly. "Such a scandalous violence. Besides, she deserves that and more so I get to help."

Harry raised an eyebrow, humor dancing in his eyes, "Big words from such a small person."

"Hey, I'll have you know great and dangerous things come in small packages," was the petite redhead's response.

"In your case the second one's a given!" Ron grinned as he tossed his arm around his sister's shoulders. She backhanded him in the stomach and he pulled his arm back.

Hermione glanced at her watch. "Times up."

The other three stepped away so Harry could see everyone without moving from his spot. Hermione smirked when she heard a couple girls sigh dreamily when they looked at him again. When everyone was once again giving him their attention he began.

"Okay. We'll start off simply. Those who want to stay, please move to the right side of the room while those who wish to leave move to the left."

In moments everyone was on the right side of the room expect for one person. Cho Chang. She was standing dead center in the room and soon all eyes were on her.

"Cho?"

Turning to Harry she answered his unspoken question. "I wanted to apologize to everyone, and especially you Harry. I was an idiot last year and I'm sorry. All I can say is that Marietta had me fooled and it wasn't until this summer that I realized it. I'm such an idiot," the raven haired beauty hung her head and fixed her eyes on her clasped hands.

Ginny sensed that Cho was deeply hurt by what her friend had done. Moving up to her she placed her finger under Cho's chin and tilted her head up. "What did she do Cho?" her voice was soft in the silence.

Taking a shaky breath she spoke, "Marietta had her memory adjusted by an auror. Apparently it was the only way to get rid of the jinx or so I was told when I asked Madam Pomfrey how she'd gotten rid of the side effects from that jinx. Anyway. Over the course of the summer I learned from Marietta that her mother had been helping Umbridge willingly last year. Marietta was _so _proud of her mother. Turns out Marietta thinks the Death Eaters are in the right; that everyone except Purebloods are useless. I'm a halfblood technically, my mother being a muggleborn witch. When I asked why she was friends with me she just laughed. She laughed; said I was useless and the only thing I'm good for in the end is whoring." By the end, Cho was whispering with silent tears rolling down her face as she looked Ginny in the eye.

"How did she hide this from you for so long?"

"Memory charms. When I found out about her mother and how she felt about me, I asked my mother to check me for memory charms. She found some and when she removed them I remembered every time that little sneak slipped in front of me." She gave a bitter laugh, "She was my best friend and thought I wasn't fit to get stuck on the bottom of her shoe. It hurts but I'm gonna make her pay for being such a little bitch."

An arm slipped around Cho's shoulders, "We'll make her pay." It was her boyfriend, Michael Corner. While he was comforting Cho, Ginny turned to everyone else and pinned them with her gaze.

"Does anyone think that Cho shouldn't be allowed here?"

No response.

"Should we allow her to stay in the D.A.?"

"Yes!" the group answered.

"This goes no further. We're a family and we take care of our own. Right?"

"Right!" the group cheered loudly. Ginny smiled.

* * *

Later that night after everyone had gone to bed, two figures silently climbed the steps to the sixth year boys' dorm and slipped inside. Three of the five occupants were sleeping soundly while the other two waited near the trunk at the foot of one empty bed. Without a word, the shorter boy opened the lid and the four students filed into the trunk, the last one latching the lid shut behind him. 

Inside was a decent sized apartment that was tastefully decorated. The common area, or living room, was furnished with two large, plush red couches facing each other across a rectangular coffee table with two cushy blue chairs at each end of it. The walls in the entire place were done in a soft cream while the floor was a luscious honey brown hardwood floor with an oriental rug that the couches and chairs sat upon. On the opposite side of the common area from the ladder was the sizable study area. It was completely enclosed by floor to ceiling bookshelves, except the open doorway of course, with a good sized worktable in the center. A silencing charm along each wall and the doorway kept sounds from the rest of the apartment out well enough to satisfy even Hermione. Next to the study area was the decent sized kitchen area with both muggle and magical appliances. That had taken some work from what Lily had said when they'd asked about it. The dining area was right next to that, the large table done in a dark oak with matching chairs. Each area, minus the study area, was separated from the others by a low wall that was wide enough to hold knickknacks. Set into the walls and scattered around the large space, once again minus the study area, were muggle stereo speakers which were connected (wirelessly according to James who had designed it) to the stereo that was set into the wall near the ladder.

Next to the ladder was an open doorway that led down a short hall with three doors. One was a small bathroom while the other two each lead to a bedroom. Both bedrooms had two small walk-in closets, four-poster beds complete with curtains that complemented the décor, and a private bathroom. The room done in blues and greens belonged to Ron and Harry while the one done in reds and black was where Hermione and Ginny slept.

Hermione stopped at the stereo to put on some quiet music while the other three immediately claimed seats in the common area.

"So," Hermione moved to her seat, "who have we got that can lead a team?"

Ginny answered, looking quite comfortable sitting sideways in a chair with her feet tossed over one arm while her head rested on the other. "I don't think we should decide that for sure yet but I'd have to suggest Terry, Neville, Luna, and Susan. Maybe if we get Slytherins who want to join we can see who among them has the skill to lead a team. Also, if necessary Luna or Neville could step in and lead multiple groups if one of us isn't around."

"You've really thought that out haven't you?" Harry's voice was full of humor.

"Hey, unlike you three I still have History of Magic. I was bored and what I saw tonight only cements my thoughts," was the retort.

Hermione's brow wrinkled as she turned the idea over in her head. "Something like that would work. We could have a group leader in each house. It would solve any contact clashes. I should see if I can't find a way for each leader to contact us and each other."

"Mirrors," Harry's voice was a bit muffled from the throw pillow Ginny had tossed at his head when he stretched out on a couch.

"Of course!" Hermione exclaimed. "We can get Prongs and Padfoot to enchant a set for us. That way we can get in touch with each other if there's an emergency."

"When should we form up the groups?" Ginny asked lazily.

Ron, ever the strategist even if he didn't want to admit it, finally spoke up. "After we get the new members at least partially caught up. It would be stupid to do anything before then."

"This is true."

The four planned and chatted for a few more hours before Ron let out a jaw popping yawn and declared he was going to bed. Agreeing with him, the others followed him down the hall. It was rather nice having their own space within the trunk. It made so many things easier on so many levels.

* * *

Monday rolled around and the sixth years were in Transfiguration when McGonagall announced that there was to be a costume party (complete with dancing of course) on the thirty-first. The first through third years would get a party in the Great Hall while the four years would have their party in the Three Broomsticks in Hogsmeade. 

At dinner that night most of the girls in the school were chattering about what they would wear and who they were going with. Harry was doing his level best to ignore all the girls making eyes at him. Even after putting up with it since school started and even a little before that, he still wasn't used to it. Ron didn't care as he had secured himself a date less than twenty seconds after they'd exited the Transfiguration room.

He'd simply turned to Hermione and asked, "So, Mione. You wanna go as friendly friends to this one instead of fighting friends?" His mouth had quirked up at the corners and Hermione flat out laughed and replied that she would go with him. The two had buried the proverbial Krum hatchet over the summer. Since then they had gotten into far fewer fights, something Harry and Ginny were grateful for.

As he was remembering that humorous encounter after class, Ginny entered the Hall and hurried to her seat next to Hermione before sitting down with a huff. The three sixth years turned their eyes to her. They didn't get a chance to ask what was wrong before she spoke.

"I'm going nutters! I've had ten guys in the last hour and a half ask me to the dance. I don't really want to go with anyone but nobody seems to care! What am I going to do?" she dropped her head onto the table with a soft thump.

Harry looked at the top of her head, his thoughts running a mile a minute. "Hey Gin, I've got an idea."

"What?" she didn't lift her head.

"I kind of have the same problem you do only the girls are just trying to get my attention instead of asking me and I don't want to really go with anyone either. Maybe we could save each other from the masses and go to the ball together without actually going to the ball together. If you catch my meaning."

She was quiet for a minute before her head popped up, "You're a bloody genius Harry! That's a great idea. I'm game for it if you are."

"Wouldn't have suggested it otherwise."

"So it'll be just like when we went clubbing then," Ron spoke up.

Ginny raised an eyebrow, "Rumor has it you asked Hermione right after class got out."

"Yeah." Ron shrugged. "The prefects found out about it at the meeting last night but we weren't allowed to tell anyone. Afterwards I figured that the two of us were going to get pestered like the two of you have and that we'd be as enthusiastic about it as you two. So I asked Mione her opinion on just going as friends as a way to avoid all the psychos. Then I asked her like we'd planned, right where the two gossip queens could hear."

"Wow. Ron had a profound thought. I'm stunned," Ginny deadpanned.

Ron just scowled at her as Harry and Hermione laughed.

* * *

Over the next couple days, the four went through the list of possible members for the D.A. and contacted them one way or another with everyone of them agreeing to join. That Friday, Harry had the new members, a few specific Slytherins included, come a bit early so he could answer any questions they may have come up with, give them their fake galleons, and to get them on the secrecy parchment. Once everyone else was present he smoothed the few ruffled feathers and got everyone working. They spent the next two hours brushing up on the spells they had learned last year to refresh their memories and to help the new people catch up. When he had brought up the subject of a meeting every other night it had been met with enthusiasm, something he was grateful for as he had a feeling something was going to happen and soon. He just hoped it wouldn't be too bad. Still, things were looking up for the D.A.

* * *

**A/N: **To those who read the original version of this chapter: what did you think of the revamped scene? To those who're reading this for the first time: what did you think period? Once again I would like to remind everyone that I will probably not be updating on a regular basis. This fic is a bit of an AU so to those who harp on the discrepencies from the books...bug off. It's my story to write remember? If you don't like how I'm doing it find a different one or write your own. Whew...I feel better now. Just had to get that off my chest. Well, until next time folks! Tyanne


	3. Controlled Craziness

**Disclaimer:** Umm...okay..I'm not blond, I'm under the age of thirty, and I've no children. Oh, and I'm not from England. So...still think I'm Rowling and that I own her story and characters? Didn't think so.

* * *

Halloween. The day of the event most of the girls in the castle were anxiously waiting for. Most of them spent hours in their dorms getting ready while the boys filled their time with whatever struck their fancy. The four friends hid away inside Harry's trunk until the chaos had passed, giving them a few more days to work on homework and plan their next major prank with a good bit of exercise mixed in. Finally there was only an hour, outside time, left to go before the ball so the four of them left the trunk while the dorm was empty and the two girls snuck out and into their own dorms without getting caught. 

Forty-five minutes later Harry and Ron were waiting in the common room with the other boys of their house who were waiting for their dates. The four of them had decided to have coordinating costumes since they were going as a group. After some thought they'd chosen to each go as an Element, the four main forces of nature.

Ron, going as Water, was wearing a simple pair of slacks with a dress shirt. He'd charmed his hair and clothes to look like the ever changing blues of a body of water during a summer storm. Another charm gave him an aura that smelled of a cool mist.

Harry was similarly dressed but as Earth the colors of his clothing were different. His shirt appeared to be made of leaves and pine needles of the deepest green while his pants seemed to be made out of branches woven together, complete with varying browns. His hair he'd simply charmed to appear the dark brown of moist earth. The same charm that had given Ron his misty aura gave Harry an aura that smelled faintly of the forest after a rainstorm.

Finally Hermione made her appearance in the common room as Air. She was wearing a form fitting tank top paired with a pair of hip hugging jeans and matching boots with stiletto heels on her feet, all in a shimmering silver. Her hair was still mainly brown but it looked as if she'd somehow placed a thin layer of silver over each strand. Using the same spell the boys had, she'd chosen a gentle breeze as her accenting aura.

"Ginny said she'd be down in a minute. She's helping Parvati with part of her costume," she explained when she stopped next to Harry.

Ron looked down at Hermione's feet, "How the hell do you walk in those things?"

She laughed, "Practice and an inborn ability most women seem to have."

"How high is that heel? It hardly looks like it can hold weight," Harry said absently as he watched Dean greet Parvati, both of them dressed in togas.

"Couple inches and they're supposed to look like that. Besides, I charmed them to feel as comfortable and moveable as sneakers. I think Ginny did the same with her boots too." Just then Ginny came hurrying down the stairs.

The shortest of the four rounded out their group as Fire. The low hanging, red leather pants were paired with a lightweight shirt that had a turtleneck collar and no sleeves. The color of the entire outfit was a swirling mix of reds, and oranges with hints of blue. On her feet were black stiletto heeled boots that made her legs look endless. Her hair looked pretty much the same as normal but she'd charmed it to look like it was flickering as a fire would. The air around her was slightly warmer than normal due to the charm she'd learned from Hermione.

"Shall we?" Ginny said as reached them. Each of them was carrying a cloak that matched their outfits and at her words they swung them around their bodies.

"We shall," Harry responded and the four made their way out of the common room.

A bit later the four of them, trailing most everyone else, walked into the Three Broomsticks to find that it had been expanded and decorated especially for the event. After depositing their cloaks at the cloak check that had been set up they made their way toward the mostly empty dance floor. The music was thumping but it seemed that nobody was ready to really dance to the rhythmic beat so they just swayed in place. With a smirk Ron turned to Hermione and held out his hand with a tilt of his head. She placed her hand in his and let him lead her onto the floor as a spicy beat started up. This action alone got the attention of those on the dance floor as at the Yule Ball a few years ago Ron had avoided the dance floor like the plague.

Jaws dropped all around as Ron lead Hermione around the floor in a spicy salsa. Ginny, who was standing off to the side with Harry, grinned and said, "I'm glad Foxy managed to get the two of you interested in dancing. It'll make this much more fun."

"You only say that because you like to dance," was the green eyed young man's response.

"That's not the only reason," she denied. "It's good exercise. Besides, I'm good at it."

Ron and Hermione walked up in time to hear that and Ron voiced his opinion to her statement. "A little full of your dancing abilities are you?"

"Yep," was the only response.

An hour later Ginny was sitting at the drink bar sipping pumpkin juice when Harry came over to her. "Hey, wanna dance? Ron and Hermione have been pestering me because I haven't danced with you yet."

"Okay. Lets go," and with that she threaded her way to the dance floor. Turning to Harry, who'd followed her easily, she smirked and they linked hands, spinning a bit to get people around them to clear the area enough for them to kick up their heels. It didn't take long as a new song started playing.

His jaw almost dropped as he watched Potter and Weasley swing dance. They stepped, swung, and twirled around the floor with ease. Potter was even flipping Weasley around in moves that really showed off the muscles they each had. Of course, he wasn't watching Potter. He was watching the delicious Ginny Weasley, just as he had been since she walked into the Great Hall on September second. The way she was moving was sending tingles all over him. Her was shirt rising enough when she raised her arms that he could see a bit of her toned stomach. And those pants! She looked like she'd been poured into them as they flexed with her movements.

'I've got to have her,' was the thought running through his mind. His eyes trailed over her body hungrily, barely suppressing a moan as Potter swung her around his waist and her pants tightened across her ass. 'She will be mine.'

The two got a spontaneous round of applause when the song finished and had just seated themselves at a table with some friends when a scream rang through the air, coming from the entrance area. The room quieted enough that it was possible to hear more screams outside. A female figure came running in from the entrance and made a beeline for the teachers' table once she spotted it. After a brief conversation she hurried out the way she came in and McGonagall made her way to the small stage where the DJ was set up. Dumbledore was up at the school with the younger students.

"Attention everyone. Hogsmeade is under attack by Death Eaters. The teachers are going outside to help. The floo will be open in a few minutes to go back to the school." She didn't bother to say anything else and hurried out the door after the other teachers. The silence was thick.

Harry exchanged looks with Hermione, Ron, and Ginny. Knowing what they were thinking he simply nodded and made his way to the door, the other following behind. On the way he stopped to speak quietly to Neville.

"We're going to help. Get everyone here organized and do it quietly. Once the baby Death Gobblers are gone set up a defense here and send a few out to help get the wounded back here. Have Luna set up her team too. Take down any who give you problems." Neville nodded and started making his way around as the quartet went out the door, casting warming charms on themselves as they went. After all, it wouldn't do to freeze while fighting evil would it? Hermione and Ginny also transfigured their boots so they were flat soled to avoid snapping their ankles as they fought.

The four of them stepped outside and ducked into some shadows to get a good look at what was going on. Death Eaters were all over the place, outnumbering the defenders by a good margin. It wasn't going to be easy to beat them, but it looked like it would be possible. As long as the backup didn't take forever and a year.

Taking deep breaths the four of them nodded to each other and dove into the fight. For the next ten minutes or so, they dodged spells while giving as good as they got, without using illegal spells that is. Each breathed a small sigh of relief when they saw more of their professors apparate onto the scene. Obviously some of the students were flooing back to the school already. Hopefully it wouldn't be too long before Neville and the rest were able to start getting the wounded to cover.

Dodging a particularly nasty curse, Harry rolled and came to his feet to find himself next to Remus. "Moony! Fancy meeting you here!" he quipped before firing a hex at the Death Eater who'd tried to hit him. "What took you so damn long?"

"You know me. Just had to be fashionably late with my grand entrance," Remus said while ducking behind Harry to dodge a cutting curse.

"Remus, you're crazy," said Kleio Cloud as she dodged around not far from them.

Harry snorted, "And you're just figuring this out now? I'd have thought you knew that in school since you hung around with him and the others."

"Oh shut up," was the only response before each conversant dove back into the fight full out.

* * *

_Molly Weasley was sitting in her kitchen wondering where her two youngest children were when a knock came at the door. Hustling over she pulled it open to see Remus Lupin_,_ a piece of parchment in his hand and a funny look on his face._

_"Hello Remus, is there something I can help you with?" she asked, stepping aside and motioning him into the house. _

_"Hello Molly. Actually, I received a rather strange letter from Harry this morning saying that I should come here and not tell anyone except you," he said as he followed her into the kitchen, not noticing the door failing to completely close right away behind him._

_Molly almost knocked over the cup of tea she had just set in front of him. Bracing her hands on the table she whispered, "You've heard from Harry? Does he say anything about Ginny and Ron? Where are they? Why did they run off? Are they safe? Please tell me he said they're safe!"_

_The former marauder just handed her the letter and watched while she read it, having practically memorized it he'd read it so many times. She made no effort to control the emotions flitting across her face. Soon she looked up. _

_"Well, I'm relieved to know they're safe but I just wish I knew where they went and why," those words had barely left her mouth when the air in the doorway to the rest of the house shimmered and two teenage girls appeared._

_"Wish granted Mrs. Weasley," Hermione Granger said with a quirk of a smile on her face. Molly let out a soft scream and rushed over to give both girls a bone crushing hug. After a couple minutes of that Remus could see that the girls were seriously having trouble breathing and managed to get the redheaded woman to let them sit at the table._

_"Now, would either one of you care to explain the letter I got from Harry?" Remus asked after Molly had finished fussing and getting drinks for everyone._

_Ginny spoke first, "We wanted to talk to both of you without giving the wrong people a chance to catch us, because that we most definitely don't want."_

_"Hear us out before you yell at us Mrs. Weasley or we'll leave and you'll have no way to find us until we want to be found," Hermione cautioned when she saw the woman take a deep breath and open her mouth. After a pause Molly nodded. "Good. Now, to explain where we went wouldn't be possible. It's unplottable, with the Fidelius and a few other spells concealing it's location. We know where it's at but we can't say it. Just know that we're as safe as we can possibly be."_

_"Ok, I can accept that. Why did you run away though?" Remus spoke softly when Molly stayed silent while she studied the girls. He wondered what she was looking for._

_"Harry found out that Professor Dumbledore went against his parents wishes, which he knew of, and placed Harry with the Dursleys after he was attacked. He also told us the prophesy," the brunette Gryffindor explained._

_"How did he find this out?" the former defense instructor's voice was slightly strained._

_Ginny sighed, "Harry got a letter from his mother, set to appear to him under specific conditions at the beginning of the summer. I have no idea how she managed to do that, even after Foxy explained it to me."_

_Remus visibly paled. "Foxy? I think you'd better explain that one."_

_"Foxy is one of the people we're staying with, along with Prongs and Padfoot," cinnamon brown eyes sparkled with mischief._

_"WHAT?!?" Remus jumped to his feet, eyes wide in shock. The girls glanced at each other and Ginny moved around the table to grasp his arm._

_"Time for your world to be fixed Professor Lupin," the redhead grinned and touched the portkey that hung around her neck, pulling the stunned werewolf with her as she popped out._

_Silence followed. Hermione broke it._

_"Did you have any questions Mrs. Weasley?"_

_"Who are the three Ginny mentioned?"_

_The teenager answered softly, "Lily Potter, James Potter, and Sirius Black, in that order."_

_"But they're dead! Are you sure you aren't being tricked?" alarm entered Molly's voice. Hermione shook her head and started retelling the tale, starting with the letter Harry had received._

_A couple hours later Mrs. Weasley had been appeased and was chatting quietly with Hermione and Ginny, who'd returned after whisking Remus off for a reunion, when Hermione's watch started beeping softly._

_"Time to go Ginny," Hermione said. She turned to Mrs. Weasley, "Thank you for the tea, Mrs. Weasley. See you soon." With a small wave of her hand she portkeyed out._

_"You know I'm not completely happy with the way you and your brother ran off," Molly said sternly._

_"I know mum, but it's something that we had to do…and there's a lot more we still have to do. It's the choice we're making. Please don't ask us to change our minds," Ginny's eyes held more than a hint of steel in them._

_"I know and I'm not going to ask you too. Would you like me to tell your father about all this?"_

_Ginny nodded, "Foxy said she taught him at the same time she taught you. I've got to go now though. Ron will be by next week to see you." She stepped over to hug her mother and whispered, "Thank you mama." Stepping back she touched her portkey and was gone._

_Molly smiled. Ginny hadn't called her that in years._

Ginny woke slowly, enjoying the weightless feeling of being half asleep. Cracking her eyes open she could see that Hermione was already up and about, her bed neatly made. Rolling onto her back she let her mind wander over the dream she'd just had. She still didn't know what had caused her mum to stay so calm that day but she was glad for it. Molly Weasley could out do a steam engine when she really got riled.

After a few more minutes she sighed and got up for the day. Walking into the living room she spotted Hermione puttering around in the kitchen while Ron and Harry played chess in the living room. She grabbed an apple off the kitchen counter and looked at Hermione, "So what's on the agenda today? Besides totally annoying Bumbles by not giving him the answers he wants I mean."

The brunette grinned and replied, "We need to finish our conference with the centaurs. All we need to do at this point is just get around Bane. I think, however, that he'll cave rather than make his people mad by going around us." Her grin widened and her eyes sparkled, "I've no clue what made them decide we were to be trusted so much."

Gin's grin matched, "I've no idea. It couldn't be that little display we put on when we killed that crazy Chimaera before it could kill that little centaur."

Hermione gave a bark of laughter before she slapped her hand over her mouth for a couple of seconds. "Sarcastic much?" Her grin faded a bit, "Seriously though, I'm not sure what caused them to agree to speak with us. It could have been that or it could have been something they saw in the stars." Both girls were quiet for a minute while Ginny finished her apple and Hermione finished up the small amount of dishes she'd decided to hand wash.

In the living room Harry sighed and stood to stretch. "Remind me why I keep playing against you Ron? Hermione's right though. We need to go finish that talk and the sooner the better. How about going now? Everyone outside should still be asleep but we wouldn't get in trouble for being out and about." All agreed and they grabbed their heavy cloaks and mittens before making their way out of Harry's trunk and to the entrance hall of the castle.

* * *

A week later Harry was sitting in Defense, waiting for the class to actually start and talking quietly with Ron and Hermione. Today they had all four professors in class. Before too long the door to the teachers' office opened and all four stepped out. Professor Eros was last and carried what looked like a covered cage. "Uh oh," Harry muttered under his breath. 

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Hermione murmured just as softly. Ron just nodded and slid his wand out of the wrist holster he'd gotten over the summer.

Professors Lupin, Kleio, and Apollo stayed close to the door of their office while Professor Eros placed his object on their desk and moved back to join them.

"As you all know, the teachers you've had over the last few years haven't really been up to standards. Over the course of the last two months we've been working on bringing you up to speed. Now we need to find out just how much you learned and retained," Professor Apollo said and with a wave of his wand he whipped the cover off the cage, revealing numerous doxies. "Your task is to catch these little beasties and cage them back up. We will be close by in case of an emergency but this is something you will have to do on your own." Another flick of his wand to open the cage and Apollo was ducking into the office behind the other three teachers.

Almost before the office door shut, the doxies were rushing out of the cage and spells were flying. Even the few students that were not in the D.A. were at least keeping the doxies away from themselves. At one point Harry had to dive under a table to dodge a doxy Malfoy had repelled away from his little corner. Growling under his breath Harry flicked a quick spell at Malfoy that he failed to notice hit. Another flick of his wand sent a mostly invisible spell at the office door, causing it to glow for a split second. With a smirk he went back to rounding up the doxies. Oh, he was really going to get them for this one. The doxies were soon rounded up and caged with no bites to anyone.

"Well that was interesting," Dean Thomas commented just as the bell rang announcing the end of classes for the day and everyone hurried out the door. Harry didn't hear what Seamus responded with but he did hear Parvati's shriek before he heard Seamus yell something that had 'ouch' and various swear words in it.

"Hermione, would you write Gin and ask her to come here? I've got an idea and I see no reason for her to miss the fun," the raven haired young man asked his best friend. She nodded and grabbed her notebook. One of the charms within the notebooks alerted the owner to new messages directed to them. Handy really. Within minutes she was there and Harry shut and sealed the door behind him.

Meanwhile in the teachers' office the four of them were watching the action via a magical window that acted like a muggle one way mirror. On their side it was a window, on the other side it was just a brick wall. They'd been rather impressed by the skill most of the students displayed while getting the doxies rounded up and caged back up. The Cloud brothers snickered a bit when they noticed the spell Harry shot at Malfoy. Soon the majority of the students were gone and Hermione was writing in her notebook. Apollo tried opening the door and found that it refused to budge; not even the unlocking charm worked.

"What in the world?" Apollo muttered under his breath.

"Uh oh. Ginny just walked in and Harry sealed the outer room. What're they talking about?" Remus commented. Kleio cast a charm on the window that carried the conversation the teens were having into the office.

"-fantastic idea!" Ginny exclaimed. "They're not gonna know what hit them."

"So, we're all agreed?" Harry waited for his friends to nod agreement before he turned to the door of the office and cast a single spell at it. Each of his friends followed with a single spell. Much to the teachers' worry, they couldn't hear or recognize the spells being cast. After they were done Hermione unsealed the outer door and they left with Ginny leaning back in the door and tossing one last spell at the office door.

The four professors cautiously stepped out into the classroom and looked at each other. "Why do I get the feeling that those four are more dangerous than we ever were?" Eros asked.

At dinner that evening Harry made sure to sit so he could see Malfoy. He hadn't told his friends what he'd done but made sure they were all there. About halfway through the meal there was a commotion over at the Slytherin table.

"That's disgusting!" Pansy Parkinson jumped up from her seat and backed away from the table.

"I think I'm going to be sick," a second year Slytherin exclaimed before bolting from the hall with a hand over her mouth. A rather low rumble sounded followed by a slight swooshing sound. All eyes swung toward a rather putrid green cloud that had an uncomfortable Malfoy sitting in the center of it. After a couple minutes the cloud faded only to be replaced by a neon pink cloud when the rumble sounded again. Turning beet red, the young blond stood and regally made his way out of the hall…only to have it ruined by a third rumble and another cloud, purple this time, stream out of his rump. Dropping all dignity at the sound of laughter and some gagging, Malfoy simply bolted out the door.

Harry snickered and looked at his five closest friends. Ron was laughing so hard he had tears running down his cheeks. Hermione was bent forward, head on the table and shoulders shaking. Neville had his hand clamped over his mouth to try and quiet his roars of laughter some. Over at the Ravenclaw table Luna was giggling freely.

"P-Please tell m-me that you d-did that!" Ginny managed to gasp out. She was laughing so hard she wasn't making any noise. Harry just winked at her and grinned, please with himself at the moment.

* * *

Two days later the four teens were noticeably amused by watching the adults they'd pranked twitch and squirm. On the third day Eros, and Apollo called the four of them to their office after classes were out. Eros made sure Kleio and Remus were there too. After making sure the room was sealed and there were no spying charms placed within the room Apollo turned to the teens. 

"Just what did you four do to us?" he demanded.

Ginny turned innocent eyes on him, "Why would we do something to you?"

Eros went through a rather lengthy speech of just how stressed out the four of them had been and just why they shouldn't be pranked. Harry and Ron were turning red while Ginny and Hermione kept their faces blank. Finally the black haired man stopped to take a breath, crossing his arms with a huff. The expression on his face was just too much for Ron and Harry. They burst out laughing.

"G-Gotcha!" Harry gasped as he fell out of his chair. Jaws dropped which finally set off the girls and they started laughing too. Remus and Kleio looked at each other and started chuckling, having figured out what had happened.

Apollo and Eros froze as they too figured it out. Eros's eyes got big while Apollo stared at Harry. Soon though they saw the amusement in it and started laughing.

"We taught you four too well," Apollo laughed.

Eros grinned at him, "Course we did mate. It's what Marauders do you know."

* * *

"The Gryffindor team is Beaters Longbottom and Finnegan, Chasers Weasley, Granger, and Bell, Co-Captains Keeper Weasley and Seeker Potter!" The stadium roared as three of the four houses cheered for the team in scarlet. It was defiantly better than cheering for the team in green as far as most of them were concerned. As the players from both teams met in the center of the field, Malfoy sneered and decided to shoot off his mouth. 

"So desperate for players that you got _Granger_ and _Longbottom_ to play?" he'd avoided a direct insult due to Hooch's proximity.

"You're such a little stinker Malfoy that you're off in your own little cloud," Hermione responded calmly. Malfoy glared daggers at her while the captains shook hands and Hooch gave her normal 'clean playing' speech. Soon after the players were in the air and the balls had been released.

Zack Smith gave a running commentary with some input from Luna. "Bell with the quaffle. She passes to Weasley who goes for the left hoop. Oh a fake and a score! Gryffindor up ten. Slytherin Chaser Pucey with the quaffle. He passes to Montague who passes to Warrington. Intercepted by Granger! She's making a run for the Slytherin goals," Smith's voice seemed to drone on. Luna kept interjecting with some witty and amusing comments but over all didn't say much.

Ginny registered all this as she followed Hermione down the pitch, weaving around the other players. Something caught her attention and she glanced around. Crabbe and Goyle were bearing down on the brunette chaser.

"Mione, down!" she yelled even as she swerved in front of Warrington to slow him down. Not showing that she heard, Hermione kept going. At the last minute though she dropped down in a swerving loop that took her out of the collision line. Ginny caught up and caught the quaffle before turning up sharply. Passing Katie on the way she dropped the quaffle into her hands and cheered when the older girl scored easily.

Half an hour later there was a cheer. Rolling to dodge a Bludger as she raced to the goals again, Ginny glanced around and noticed that Harry was chasing the snitch, Malfoy on his tails but slowly loosing ground. With a grin she put on a burst of speed and launched the quaffle passed one very surprised keeper. He'd been watching Hermione as she swerved around the other players, thinking she had the quaffle. He hadn't seen Ginny coming in from the side.

"And Potter has caught the snitch! Gryffindor wins 340 to 180!"

On the way back to the tower Hermione had the feeling she was being watched. Under the pretense of looking for Ginny she turned around to see if she could spot anyone watching her. Not seeing anyone right away she grinned and stepped over to the petite redhead. Walking next to her she acted as if she were telling a secret.

"Act happy," Hermione whispered. "Someone's watching me again. I can feel it but I can't find who it is."

Ginny giggled to hide the serious nature of the conversation, "I know. It happened to me again earlier too. We've got to figure this out. It's really starting to get annoying."

"Lets just hope it doesn't end up to be a dangerous thing." Ginny nodded agreement.

* * *

The first week of December was marked by a snowstorm that left a good foot of snow on the ground and a white icing on all the trees, except the Whomping Willow of course. That tree just shook it off…literally. The night after the storm subsided was a full moon and most the students and faculty were safely ensconced in the castle. 

The full moon brought out the wolf in Remus and thanks to the wolfsbane potion he was able to keep his mind and enjoy himself. His fellow defense teachers went with him to the Shrieking Shack before he changed, all wanting some fun and exercise. Once he'd changed, the werewolf made his way into the forest, followed by a large stag, a dog that had a shocking resemblance to a grim, and a small vixen that rode atop the stag's back.

After going a moderate distance they met up with four other animals. A large gray wolf with vibrant blue eyes and hints of red at the tips of his fur was lounging next to a black jaguar of similar size. The cat's fur was so black it had blue lowlights, more so than a usual jaguar would and it's green eyes were piercing. Sitting in a tree above them were two birds of prey.

The smaller one looked like a slate gray falcon with light brown eyes and a gray stripe around it's right foot. The other bird had rusty brown feathers, a hawk of some sort, stood about five inches taller than the other making it about a foot and eight inches tall. It's dark brown eyes watched as the four other animals approached and it also had a gray stripe around it's right ankle. It wasn't possible to tell when they perched but when in flight the falcon's long pointed wingspan of three feet four inches was a good foot plus two inches shorter than broader one the hawk possessed.

Once all eight animals were gathered and the fox was on the ground, the falcon swooped down out of the tree and knocked a balled talon gently against the stag's back before flying away, low and leisurely. This sparked movement in the others as they scattered away from the stag. If any humans had been around to watch, they'd have seen a rather amusing game of tag taking place in the dark forest.

Moonset brought about Remus' return to his human body and the four teachers slowly walked up to the school while the birds, wolf, and cat circled around them playfully. Apollo laughed and held his hand up for the falcon when it swooped down, hovering around his head while tipping it's own head to the side. "You're certainly a charmer Talon," he said while the bird of prey settled gently on his arm and moved up to his shoulder. Talon gave a nod before gently nibbling his hair.

The days of December passed and soon the school was filled excited students. Christmas was nearing and many were eager to be home to see their families and trade gifts. The Gryff Four as the students had taken to calling them were equally excited. They were planning on spending the holiday with James, Lily, Sirius, and Remus. Molly and Arthur Weasley were planning a trip to see their two oldest children so they were fine with Ron and Ginny spending the holiday with their friends.

* * *

Two days before they were to leave, Professor Dumbledore came up to them while they were walking in front of the Defense classroom. "Ah, just the students I was looking for!" he smiled congenially. "Might I have a word with the four of you?" 

"Certainly Professor," Ginny answered.

The old wizard nodded his head, "Excellent! I'm sure the Defense professors won't mind if we borrow their classroom for just a moment."

_I'm sure they won't mind in the least you old coot _was the basic thought that flashed through each teen's mind. When they were all inside the room and were scattered around the room in various poses, Dumbledore turned to Harry and spoke.

"I noticed that you had not put your name on the list of students staying for the holidays. Unfortunately, I cannot allow you to leave the school for Christmas," the headmaster had his back to the office door.

Spotting Kleio standing in the office doorway behind Dumbledore, Harry spoke before she could. "What? No beating around the bush? I'm shocked. Really," the dark haired boy deadpanned.

"Now Harry, you know that I cannot allow you to leave. It's too dangerous for you."

Ginny spoke up, her voice calm, "What you mean is that it's too dangerous for _you _to have Harry out from under your thumb. After all, that's why you went against his parents wishes."

Hermione jumped in next. "You've also ignored all the times Harry has asked to not go back to the Dursleys'. Did it ever occur to you that he had valid reasons? You've also kept information from him that he had every right to know."

"Plus, you've treated him like a child. Us too for that matter. Do you realize that it will be us and not you who leads in the war that's about to start?"

"I really don't think any of that is for you four to worry about. Now, I really must insist that you stay here for the holidays Harry," Dumbledore looked at Harry over his glasses.

"No."

The wizard sighed, "Then I'm going to have to force you to stay here."

"I most certainly do NOT think so Albus!" Kleio was mad…really mad.

Dumbledore turned, "My dear, this does no-" was all he got out before he discovered the wand of a supremely pissed off witch pointed smack at his beak of a nose.

"Sit." The headmaster must have noticed something in her eyes because he did just that. Not taking her eyes off of him, Kleio spoke again, "Remus, would you and the others be so kind as to provide us with some privacy charms? Strong ones?"

Soon the charms were placed and the three male professors had lined up behind Kleio. The four teens were moving over to perch on some desks when Kleio began ranting at Dumbledore. "What makes you think you can tell me that what you're trying to for _my __son_ into doing in not my business?"

Ron leaned over to Harry, "D'you think she meant to say that?"

"Probably. She's been itching to rip into him for a few months now. Dad's been almost as antsy."

Hermione held out a bowl while she watched Dumbledore's stunned reaction to the three 'dead' people in front of him, "Popcorn?"

"Hell yeah! This is better than a movie." The four settled down to watch the drama.

* * *

After the truth was revealed to Dumbledore, he finally started leaving the four friends alone; not that Lily, James, Remus, and Sirius gave him any other option. The Christmas holiday passed and soon it was the day before the new term. The quartet of friends were in Diagon Alley to restock their school supplies and have one last day of fun before the schoolwork started up again. 

They were just crossing the entrance to an alley when the sharp crack of apparition sounded directly behind them. Before they could blink, Ginny was grabbed from behind and hauled up against her captor. The other three whirled around fast enough to witness a masked Death Eater place the tip of his wand at her throat. Arrayed behind him, or her, were six of his comrades, all masked with their wands pointed at the ground.

"Move into the alley. All of you," snarled the one holding Ginny. "And don't try anything funny or the tart pays for it." The three moved into the alleyway and the Death Eaters followed after, cutting off any chance of escape that way. Ron, Hermione, and Harry placed the wall the alley terminated at to their backs and glared at the Death Eaters in front of them.

"What the hell do you dead beats want?" Ron snarled, not at all happy that his sister was being held at wand point.

"Shut up," the idiot holding Ginny jabbed her with his wand, further angering her. She looked at Hermione, making sure to catch her eye. Once she had, Gin looked down and moved her foot toward her captors. Hermione looked back up and winked before leaning against the wall and crossing her arms.

"You know, this is all very crude. I mean, we could just gather around a cozy campfire and sing," Hermione said in a bored voice.

Voldemort's henchmen shifted, confused and obviously wondering what the muggleborn young woman was talking about. The one holding Ginny actually loosened his grip a fraction and started at the brunette, "What on earth are you talking about?"

Hermione rolled her eyes, "You mean you don't know how to sing? S-I-N-G? Sing?" Here Ron and Harry grinned, catching the reference to a movie the girls liked. The Death Eaters were further confused. "One of us can demonstrate if you'd like," Mione offered politely.

About two seconds later Ginny exploded into action. She neatly slipped to the side of the one holding her and jammed her elbow into his side as hard as she could, causing him to drop his wand. Next she drove her heeled boot down on the inside part of his foot as hard as she could before smashing the back of her elbow into the center of his face. Lastly she whirled on one foot and drove her knee into his groin with as much force as possible. Needless to say, he dropped like a rock off of a cliff. The other henchmen were taken aback and froze, allowing the other three to close in on them at the same time Ginny launched a roundhouse kick to the one closest to her. Within minutes, all the Death Eaters were down without a single spell being cast by the four teens. While the boys made sure the attackers were all out for the count, whether by their hands or spells they'd dodged, Hermione gathered up the Death Eaters' wands. Ginny grabbed her Portkey necklace and popped away to get someone to help them. Within minutes she reappeared with Lily as Kleio and Remus.

Remus looked around, "Well, it looks like you certainly had some fun!"

* * *

**A/N:** Oh my aching head! I finally managed to get this chapter finished! My writer's block gone! I don't know how long it'll take me to get the next one up though. I do plan on finishing this story...especially since I want to start on the sequal and I can't do that until I iron out this one. So...anyone recognize the movie nod? The first one who gets it right (and its an easy one) gets a cameo in the next chapter. Fun yeah? 


	4. Flying Time

**Disclaimer:** Okay, I'm still not from Britain, I'm still not a blond, and I've never published a book. Still think I might be JK Rowling? No? Great cause I'm not! The Potter universe is her's...I'm just playing with it a little.

**A/N:** Here's Chapter 4! It may seem as if things are going by a bit faster but in all honesty, this story is going to cover well over two years at a minimum by the time I'm done. So useless filler isn't in the cards at the moment...maybe someday I'll come back and add some but not until I actually finish this tale.

* * *

The second night back at Hogwarts found the four teens back in the trunk discussing the D.A. meeting they'd had that evening. Lately the four of them retired to the trunk rather than try to talk in the common room. It was quieter and they had more time. They'd all come to think of the trunk as a haven from the world outside.

"Well, the groups are working out nicely. I'm glad Luna was willing to lead the healers. She's a natural at healing," Ginny said from her spot on the kitchen counter.

Hermione was making a snack for the four of them. Not bothering to turn from the stove she spoke, "I don't think Luna has ever liked fighting. Remember how much she got picked on last year? Mandy told me that the only reason it stopped is because Luna trounced the idiots when they tried again this year. She didn't hurt them though." Mione was quiet as she slid the finished food onto a plate and moved to the table. "The way I hear it, Luna scared them to such an extent that they practically run the other way if she glances at them. Nobody seems to know what she did and those boys she got aren't talking."

Ginny plopped down in a chair across from Hermione and laughed. "Luna told me what she did. She charmed their skivvies to shrink to an uncomfortable level and twist and their socks to tickle their feet, all while she had them in a body bind."

Ron snorted as he reached over his sister's shoulder, "That girl is just plain scary when she's riled."

"She's scary yeah, but she's got nothing on Gin and Mione and you know it!" Harry snickered as he dodged Hermione's swinging hand.

Ginny glared at the green eyed Gryffindor, "Shut it you." Harry held up his hands in surrender. "Anyway," the small redhead continued, "Luna's still the best to lead the Healers. I think Neville is doing a good job with his group."

"Yes he is," Harry agreed. "Oh, and Daphne had some interesting information for me. It seems Malfoy and Zabini have come to some sort of agreement. She says they're acting almost as if they're partners or friends."

"That cannot be good. Is there any way for the D.A. Slytherins to figure out what those two are up to?" Ginny asked.

Ron answered, "Not without tipping their hand. It's too dangerous if the minis find out they have spies in their midst."

"Damn."

Ron pasted a shocked expression on his face. "Mione? Did you just swear? Are you feeling alright?" Hermione just glared at him.

"So what're we going to do next with the D.A?"

Harry scratched his head, "I was thinking that we'd start running simulations. Maybe put them through the paces so to speak and see how they handle the pressure."

"Sounds reasonable. How do you propose we do that?" Mione asked, the voice of reason and practicality in these discussions.

"The room we use _is _the Room of Requirement isn't it? We can have the room provide the setting and the four of us, or maybe others, can provide the opposition."

"Hmm…why don't we have the groups face each other first? We can split them close to evenly and see what happens?" Hermione was scribbling ideas down on parchment. Her mind was flying through possibilities.

"Why don't we put the groups headed by Neville, Daphne, and Michael on one side and the ones by Tracey, Colin, Susan, and Megan on the other?" Ginny asked. "Neville's group is the strongest over all so that'll balance the fewer numbers out."

"I like that idea," Harry nodded. "Here's what I want to do." He laid out his idea and the four spent the trunk day refining it so they would get good estimation of the skill level of the D.A. members under pressure.

* * *

A week later the D.A. met again and this time the quartet had a surprise waiting for them. Harry was waiting inside the Room and once everyone was inside he called attention.

"Okay, by now everyone is wondering why the Room is so small and what's up with the three doors behind me. The reason for both is the same. We're going to run a simulation to see just how much you've all learned and if you can apply it in a situation that mirrors something the real world can and will shove into your faces. Neville, Michael, and Daphne will lead their groups on one side while Tracey, Colin, Susan, and Megan lead their groups on the other. You will be fighting on opposite sides so don't think you're going to be able to play nice, even if you're going head to head with a friend. Luna's group of healers will be helping both sides as they need the practice as well. Any questions?" Harry paused to look around. Nobody raised their hands so he continued. "Alright, those in the first three groups I mentioned enter the door on my right while the other four groups on my right. Wait until you see the sky light up green before starting. The healers will stay with me until you're all inside the setup."

Soon it was just Harry and the healers in the outer room. He motioned for them to follow him through the middle door. They came out on the roof of a building in a generic village. Hermione walked over from her spot at the roof's edge.

"Here's the deal. You're going to be helping both sides. I know that this isn't how it is in reality but you all need practice getting to your patients. This will give you that. We'll work on healing under fire at a later date." She pointed off to the side where the top of a ladder was visible, "Go down to the street level using that ladder and then do your jobs once things start happening. Good luck!"

Soon it was just the four friends on the rooftop. They could see the two opposing groups at the ends of the road below them. Harry closed his eyes and asked the Room to turn the sky green for five seconds. It did and things started. The group with Neville in it arrayed themselves defensively while the three group leaders conversed quickly. Soon Daphne's group was invisible while Neville lead his group along the sides of the road and Michael took his group to the alleyways behind the buildings.

On the other side of the village Colin's group split away into the alleys while Susan and Megan took their groups down the sides of the main road. Tracey's group split off and made their way to the roof tops across the street.

The groups following the road met up not far from where the quartet stood and spells began flying. The two sides were even until Tracey's group started firing on Neville's group from above. While this was going on, Hermione was watching the events in the alleys through a view screen setup for that purpose. Michael's group clashed with Colin's group just after Tracey's started firing. Within minutes, Colin's group was down and Michael's had circled around behind where Susan and Megan had brought their groups. It was even at that point. Luna's group was doing the best they could but the spells were flying so fast that at one point Ron spotted Natalie get hit by a stunner while dodging a jelly legs jinx.

There wasn't much of a change until those on the roofs started dropping. Once every member of Tracey's group was stunned and under guard, Daphne's group started firing on their opponents in the street. Five minutes later it was over and everyone was revived and gathered on the rooftop to hear what Harry and the others had to say.

"Great job everyone. I think we'll just let you off easy this time and not grill you on what could have been done better. Instead, why don't you tell us what worked well?" Harry grinned.

Susan grinned, "How about Daphne and her invisible group? That was a nasty surprise!" The entire group laughed before others began tossing out examples of what worked. Harry let them chatter amongst themselves about that before asking them to think about what could have been done better before letting them go for the night.

* * *

Albus was frustrated beyond belief. He'd been stunned and then ecstatic when James, Lily, and Sirius had revealed to him that they were alive. In fact, he'd been so ecstatic that he'd agreed to a secrecy spell to prevent him from spilling their secret before they were ready. After that, every time he turned around they were blocking his path. He wasn't able to get Harry or his friends back under his influence, nor was he able to get the four defense professors to see his side of things. They'd threatened legal action if he did not stop pestering the four Gryffindor students. He didn't even know what the four of them were up to within the school anymore. For that matter, he _still_ didn't know why they'd not shown up in the Hall the evening of September first! All he'd been told was that it wasn't his business as long as they arrived before classes started. He'd been completely unable to find out anything about them that they didn't want him knowing. The portraits were of _no_ help whatsoever and the ghosts had flat out turned him down when he asked them to keep an eye on the quartet. _Who_ had talked to them, and why? Still, he had a way to find out what he needed to know.

Colin Creevey was around Harry and the other three very often and Albus was certain he'd be able to convince the boy to tell him the goings on. He was pulled from his thoughts by a bell sound that alerted him to the fact that someone had just given the password to get past the stone statue below. Just as the person reached the door he called out, "Enter."

The door opened slowly and the subject of Albus' thoughts peered into the room. "You wanted to see me Professor?" Colin asked as he stepped in and closed the door.

"Yes indeed. Please have a seat. Lemon drop?" he motioned to the small dish of the candies sitting at the edge of his desk.

"No thank you sir. I'm not fond of them." Colin paused, "Am I in trouble sir?"

"No but I am afraid that I need your assistance with something of grave importance," Albus said while peering over the edge of his glasses.

"With what sir?"

The headmaster sighed. "I'm afraid someone or something has caused Harry Potter to become rash. He does not listen to advice and is reckless. I'd like to help him but he will not confide in me, even if I can help him."

"Sir?"

Dumbledore put on his most congenial expression, "I'd like you to watch him and report to me on his actions. I must know what he is doing if I am to help him in anyway."

"I see." Colin stood, "If you'll excuse me Professor, I have meet with some friends in a few minutes." He didn't wait for the headmaster to say anything before he left the office.

Harry was sitting in the common room with Ron and Ginny when Colin rushed through the portrait hole and straight to him. "I need to talk to you right now!" Colin blurted out as he leaned against the table, winded and wheezing.

"Upstairs," Harry turned and lead the way while Ginny trailed behind and Ron waited in the common room for Hermione. Once Harry had made sure the boys sixth year dorm was empty he placed a silencing charm all around the room and the door before turning to Colin. "What's up?"

Colin took a gulp of water from the glass Ginny handed him before he spoke, "Dumbledore called me up to his office. He asked me to spy on you."

Harry's voice was quiet, "What was your answer?"

"I didn't answer." Colin grinned, "I simply said 'I see' and then gave an excuse that I needed to meet with some friends before I hightailed it out of his office and up here as fast as I could."

"I wonder what he's going to think of that," Ginny chuckled. At that moment Ron and Hermione entered the room and were brought up to speed on the events. After a few minutes, they asked Colin to leave the room. They didn't want to risk Dumbledore seeing their conversation in Colin's memories. Colin readily agreed and went downstairs to warn others to beware the headmaster and his spy idea.

"He's either going to assume Colin will spy for him or that he's going to have to find someone else who'll spy for him," Ron that thinking out loud while he paced. "I wonder if we can't turn that back on him?"

"What do you mean?" Hermione raised an eyebrow.

Ron's grin held more than a hint of mischief, "Well, we can feed him false information. I wouldn't recommend it due to the fact that he's a master at Legilimancy and Colin doesn't know how to protect his mind. On the other hand, we can take this to Padfoot and the others. Can you imagine what the eight of us could come up with if we put our heads together on this? We can prank him _and_ get him in a position where he can't move against us. Hell, we could bring my mum in on it too! Since that time he called her to his office she's been itching for a chance to get at him. She even gave me permission to try and prank him as long as I didn't get caught!"

"You guys have been a bad influence on me!" Hermione threw her hands up. Silence ran through the room before Hermione started giggling. "I vote we tell the others and prank his hair off of his head!" The other three gave small cheers before they too started laughing. Before too long the four of them calmed down and slipped out of Gryffindor tower to go inform their teachers of Dumbledore's attempt to butt in where he wasn't wanted.

* * *

The halls of Hogwarts held many shadowy places where one could hide if one desired. One night in the last week of January, a particularly large such hiding spot held two figures. Most would assume that this dark spot was holding an amorous couple but they would be wrong. The two figures were obsessed, but not with each other. They desired two, as of yet, unattainable persons. It was only a matter of time before they each had what they wanted.

"You're sure they walk by here on their way back from the Great Hall?" asked the lighter colored of the two quietly. His silver eyes were cold and empty of emotion as he watched the hall around them. It was pure happenstance that the two had noticed each others' obsessions and been called on them. Now they had a working partnership to acquire their goals.

"Yes now shut up. They should be here soon," the black haired student with him snapped. Sure enough, the two they desired came into view. Unfortunately they had friends with them. When they were out of sight, silver gray eyes met dark brown eyes.

"Well that was most inconvenient," the taller, darker skinned boy spoke blandly.

Silver eyes glared, "Zabini do you ever actually think?"

"Why yes I do. I find I like it. This just means that we can set plans in place to get them out of the castle when we get them. If we'd have grabbed them tonight we would have had to rush things."

"Huh. Well, you've a point. At least we know their most likely path. Now we can plan things out properly." His pale blond head nodded sharply. "Let's go Zabini, we've got plans to make." With that the two Slytherins slipped out of the shadows and to their common room with none the wiser to their plans.

* * *

Ginny sighed and pushed her hair back out of her face. The potion she was brewing was bubbling away happily while she let her thoughts run. Her class was going through a chapter of healing potions and she was rather glad of it. She had the uncomfortable feeling that they were going to be needed sometime in the near future. As it was, she'd already been brewing potions in the trunk for a few weeks but she wasn't sure if it would be enough. Luckily Hermione was helping her when she could. All four of them were working long hours trying to get things ready for the battle they knew was coming.

Unfortunately they didn't know what to expect, just that something was going to come sometime during the spring at Hogwarts. Lily hadn't seen anymore than that. Still, they'd been making what preparations they could. The ghosts and portraits were acting as spies for them throughout the castle where they could. Not all halls had portraits but they were doing a good job so far.

In the beginning of November the negotiations with the Centaurs had been completed. They wouldn't leave the forest but they could and would hamper any member of an attacking force that neared or entered the forest. When the waters of the lake unfroze and warmed enough, Harry was going to try talking to the Merpeople. None of them were sure what would happen when he did.

For now though, they were doing what they could without Dumbledore being made aware. The wards around the school would have to do until they achieved the skill to tweak them the way they wanted. Hermione had the brilliant idea to charm the castles decorations to fight if needed. The suits of armor in the halls, the chimeras and gargoyles on the walls, and even the winged boars at the gates were all going to be charmed to fight. The trick was finding the correct combination of spells and that was going to be tricky due to the way some of those spells reacted with each other. Hermione had tried one combination that had exploded the small stone statue she'd been trying to charm. Ginny thought she needed to get Ron's help since he was the charms guru in their group.

Ginny shook her head to clear it and added the next ingredient before stirring clockwise five times. Potions class had actually gotten better for her since the beginning of the year. Snape had placed her by herself and would give her a second potion to brew if she finished her first one with enough time to spare. It made class more interesting for her at the very least.

Her potion was finished so she bottled it up and finished cleaning her cauldron just as the bell rang. After handing both potions to Professor Snape she picked up her bag and slipped out of the room. Once in the halls, her thoughts began wandering again.

Somehow they were going to have to get all the healing potions she and Hermione had been brewing into Madam Pomfrey's collection without anyone finding out. Ginny figured that they were just going to have to bring them in whenever the attack happened. Otherwise questions would be raised when people had time to think about them.

When she reached the entrance hall, Ginny was jogged from her thoughts by someone calling her name. Turning to see who it was, she groaned internally. Couldn't this guy take a hint? He'd been chasing after her since the end of November but she hadn't been able to get him to leave her alone yet.

"Hey Ginny," he grinned as he jogged up to her. "I was wondering if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade together tomorrow."

She sighed, "Look Terry, you're a nice guy but I'm not interested."

"Oh. Maybe next week we can get together and hang out?" He just didn't give up!

Ginny crossed her arms and stared at him, "What do you like about me that you won't take no for an answer?"

"Umm…you're pretty, smart, and calm," he flashed another grin at her before sliding a bit closer.

"Bullshit," she snarled, tired of being nice to the older boy. Terry actually jumped backwards a bit. "You don't know me at all Boot. I'm a nasty little witch who doesn't like to be bossed around. I have seven older brothers whom I've fought with me entire life. I'm a scrapper, I don't bother trying to look my best, I curse worse than a sailor when I'm pissed, and I'm a right bitch when I'm cranky. Now you tell me, do you still think I'm what you want?"

"Well yeah. You just need a calming influence in your life," he slide a little closer. "I don't mind that you can defend yourself. I rather like that. Watching you in D.A is cool."

Ginny stilled and Terry smiled down at her. "You watch me in D.A?" He nodded, thinking he'd won her over. She stepped back and tapped her lower lip in thought, "Tell me Terry, do you think you could go out with someone who scares you?"

"You don't scare me Ginny. I find you very sweet most of the time actually."

"Oh really," she practically purred. "Let's test that theory of yours shall we?" Her eyes froze over and she stared at him. When he began to sweat under the pressure of her eyes, she stepped toward him. Terry reacted by backing up, his scared hazel eyes locked with her cold brown ones. Ginny let a cold smile appear on her lips while she pushed Terry against the wall with her free hand. Whispering in his ear she asked, "Scared yet Terry?" He nodded. Ginny's smile became malicious. "Good. Now maybe the next time a girl tells you 'no' you'll listen." With that she jerked her knee up and cracked him in the groin, dropping him like a rock.

Turning around she spotted her friend Julia standing off to the side. "Are you alright Ginny? What'd Boot do that you dropped him?"

"I'm fine Julez. Boot just hasn't been taking no for an answer and I got sick of playing nice," the redhead grinned.

"Serves him right!" Julia grinned back as she linked arms with Ginny. "So, who're we going to hook him up with to make it up to him? He is D.A. member you know."

"I was thinking Kat. They're in the same house, they're both in the D.A. and she's had a crush on him since our third year," Ginny smiled.

"Okay, here's what we'll do." Julia laid out her plan. It was sneaky and Ginny loved it. Having friends in Slytherin was a good thing in Ginny's mind.

* * *

Valentine's day rolled around and Ginny was in a nasty mood. The younger students were sugared up while the majority of the older students were either moonstruck couples or single students mooning over someone else. Ginny had been pestered and followed around the school by various boys wanting to date her and even some girls who wanted advice on how to get a boy. She was about ready to yank someone's hair out. Looking around the library for her friends she spotted Hermione working on an essay, Ron was looking through what looked like charms books, and Harry was making his way to where she sat.

"Hey Gin," he flopped into the chair across from her. "You look as cranky as I feel today."

"Don't even get me started! I'm about ready to beat someone into the floor," Gin glared at the table her elbows rested on, the book she'd been trying to read ignored off to the side.

"Want to spar?"

"Sure. Maybe it'll keep me from hurting someone else." With that the two of them made their way to the Room of Requirement. Harry paced to bring the door into existence. Once they were inside, each student transfigured their cloths into something suitable before taking ready positions opposite each other.

Two hours later they were both winded and sweaty but much calmer. Ginny sat on the floor to stretch while Harry just stretched where he stood.

"That spinning roundhouse of yours is scary, you know that right?" Harry asked.

Brown eyes sparkled with humor, "Yep. My arms aren't as strong as yours are so I've gotten good at using my legs to my advantage."

"I'd noticed that." He finished stretching and held out a hand to her. She grabbed it and let him pull her to her feet. Harry noticed a piece of hair dangling softly along her cheek. Without thinking, he reached out and brushed it back behind her ear. Their eyes locked and Harry felt as if he were falling. Ginny just wondered if she'd have to relearn how to breath. They were jerked back to awareness by a crash in the hall followed by Filch screaming and Peeves taunting the caretaker as they ran by the door.

Ginny looked up and met Harry's eyes. "Thanks for the sparring session. I feel so much better."

Harry laughed, "Maybe we'll be lucky and the common room will be empty by the time we get back." As they talked, each changed their cloths and stepped out into the hall, idle chatter filling their walk back to the tower. Once they'd split up in the mostly empty common room, Ginny couldn't help wondering what why she had the feeling that she was forgetting something. On the stair to the boys' dorms, Harry was trying to remember what he'd forgotten.

* * *

Time passed quickly for the quartet and before they knew it the third week of May was upon them. The D.A. was doing very well with the simulations the four of them were putting the group through. Dumbledore was still leaving them alone thanks to their four Defense professors. Even their classes were going smoothly, even for Ginny who was in her O.W.L. year. With the studying and training they'd done over the summer and since, it felt as if they were sleeping through classes. Of course, the time difference in the trunk certainly helped too when it came to homework and studying.

That Saturday was the last chance the students would have to go to Hogsmeade before the end of the year. Ginny and Hermione were wandering through the halls on their way to the Entrance hall where they were to meet Ron and Harry. They were chatting about classes when Ginny felt a sharp prick in her arm. A split second after she gasped, Hermione grabbed at something along the back curve of her neck and shoulder. Ginny pulled the tiny dart she found in her arm out and turned to the brunette to find her holding one too. Shaking her head to fight off the fog blurring her vision she tried speaking.

"What the hell-" was all the farther she got before she, and Hermione, slumped to the floor unconscious.

"Where the hell are they?" Ron groused, impatient for the girls to show up so they could head to the village.

Harry shrugged from his place against the wall, "Dunno but they're late. It's unlike them, especially Hermione." He idly watched the taller redhead pace around while he stayed in place to avoid getting run over.

A group of giggly third year girls had just gone by when Kleio literally ran over to where the two young men were. She placed a hand on the wall to steady herself while she took deep calming breaths.

"Mum?" Harry whispered. "What's wrong?"

"I just had a Dream. I fell asleep and had a Dream about Ginny and Hermione. They've been kidnapped!"

That got their full attention. "_What?_"

"It was two Slytherins, around your age I think. I didn't see more than shadows and the girls being knocked out before I jerked awake."

"How long ago," Ron asked.

"I'd say no longer than ten minutes ago if my internal clock is correct. Why?"

Harry gave a sharp nod, "We should still be able to track them with that spell you taught us last summer. If we can find their magical signatures before any warding erases the trail, we should be able to get to them and hopefully get back out."

Lily sighed, "Good, I'd forgotten about that one. Hurry though, and be careful. Something else is going to happen but I wasn't able to figure it out from my Dream. All I got was a vague sense of danger and urgency not related to the girls."

"We will. Get the others and head to Hogsmeade. At the very least it'll place you guys in a place you can apparate from if needed." Ron began mentally running through various scenarios while Harry set about casting the tracking spell. Knowing Ron was right Lily left them then, intent on finding her husband and his best friends.

"I've got a lead on them. Let's go!" With that the two Gryffindors made their way toward the edge of the apparition wards. "According to the spell, they're someplace north of here. What do you think?"

"Well, let's get there and see what the place looks like. It might just be a cave but I've got a feeling it isn't," Ron said. "Where exactly are we going?" Harry told him and they were away.

* * *

Ginny barely held back a groan as she slid into awareness of her surroundings. Taking care not to move, she listened intently. She could only hear one other person breathing and when she cracked her eyes open the slightest she could make out Hermione's unique curls, the silver strands barely flickering in the dim light. Opening her eyes fully and slowly sitting up she could see they were most defiantly _not_ in Hogwarts anymore.

The room they were in was obviously in a basement. The floor and walls were stone and the small window near the ceiling was just above the ground, evidenced by the grass just barely visible. The door was wood and old but sound if appearances were accurate. There wasn't much noise making its way through the ceiling but it was obvious that they were not alone in the place.

Shaking her head to clear it, Ginny slid herself over to Hermione and shook her gently. The brunette's eyes fluttered open and Ginny signaled for silence. Hermione sat up slowly, taking in their surroundings with her sharp gaze. With a tip of her head, she motioned to the wall under the window. Placing themselves directly across from the door, they put their heads together.

"What is going on?" Ginny whispered. "Did you see who hit us with those darts?"

"Not fully. I saw two people hiding in shadows. Nothing more than that," Hermione shook her head.

"I'd say that's wonderful but somehow I don't think it is," Ginny closed her eyes. "Well, nothing for it I guess. Any ideas how we can get out of here?"

"Not yet but I will eventually I'm sure."

Ginny couldn't help but snicker at the dry tone Hermione used. After a short pause she spoke, "Do you think this is connected to being watched all year?"

"Most likely. I just wish I knew _why_ we were being watched," Hermione twisted a curl around her fingers as she thought. "I think we'd better assume Death Eaters are involved. It's highly unlikely that we'll get less than two guards in here at a time though if we play out cards right. We've got to get out and find our wands before we can do anything."

A noise in the hall outside caught their attention. "I think we're about to have company. Divide and conquer?" Ginny whispered. Hermione nodded as a key turned in the lock. Standing as the door swung open the two girls split, one to each side of the tiny room. When their eyes landed on the two who entered the room, neither displayed a visible reaction.

"Well look what we have here. I do believe that you two are going to be our entertainment for quite some time," Blaise Zabini smirked from where he stood next to the doorway.

Ginny matched his smirk, "Well look what we have here. I do believe you two are going to be _our_ entertainment…but not for very long at all."

Cold gray eyes locked onto her light brown ones. "Just what are you blathering about now Weasley?"

"What?" Ginny faked shock, "_Draco Malfoy _doesn't know something that will soon be very true about himself? Wait until I tell Ron about this!"

Hermione, making sure to keep a sharp eye on the second Slytherin, had to get her own bit in. "It isn't his fault Gin. Neither of these two know all of the cards in play. Oh, they've both got good poker faces…" here Hermione looked Blaise square in the eye and smirked, "but ours are better."

"Just what do you mean by that Granger?" Zabini snapped. She just smirked. Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione saw Ginny toss her hair over her shoulder and quirk an eyebrow at Malfoy. Oh was he going to get it from the fiery redhead! Unfortunately she'd be too busy dealing with Zabini to watch. Pity.

"So, why did you steal us out of Hogwarts anyway?" Ginny asked, intending to find out as much as she could before things got rough.

"Simple really. We wanted you. Blaise gets Granger. You, Weasley, are mine. I own your body for my own pleasure," Malfoy smirked.

"I don't recall a purchase involving me being the product." Ginny paused, "However if you want a body for pleasure why don't you try a pug bitch like Parkinson? She's free from what I hear on the grapevine. Hell, she might even be willing to take on both of you at the same time if what I've heard is correct."

"Ouch. I must remember to ask her if that hurt later on," Hermione snickered. Malfoy growled and grabbed Ginny's wrist.

"Am I supposed to be scared and weepy now?" her eyes were sparking with mischief; mischief that Draco would have been scared of if he knew how to interpret it. Hermione recognized the look and readied herself to move.

Zabini grabbed for Hermione's arm and that was all the signal the girls needed. Ginny twisted her wrist out of Malfoy's grip and grabbed his wrist in return. Without pause she twisted his arm at the same time she wrenched his entire body around hard enough to pop his shoulder out of its socket. She jerked his arm up behind his back and kicked both feet out from under him, causing him to fall to the floor face first and fast enough that he couldn't save himself from a busted nose. As he fell, Ginny released him hand so she didn't get pulled down. Before he could flip to his back she delivered a sharp chop to the pressure point on his neck, knocking him unconscious. All of this was done in less time than it took Malfoy to even scream in pain.

In the meantime, Hermione was dealing with the darker of the two Slytherins. When Blaise grabbed for her arm she stepped toward him, grabbed his shoulders, and jammed her knee into his stomach as hard as she could. It was tricky but by using her arms as leverage she was able to hoist herself up far enough to hit her target. When Zabini fell to the ground wheezing and grabbing his gut, Hermione jammed her knee up into his face to effectively break his nose and knock him out cold. Dusting her hands, she turned to see Ginny standing over Malfoy's prone form.

"Like I said, they were entertaining…just not for very long!" Ginny snickered. After divesting their "captors" of their wands and reclaiming their own at the same time the two made their way out of the room, making sure to lock it securely behind them. Slipping quietly down the hall they came to a staircase and slowly made their way up it. The door at the top was open a crack and through it they could hear at least three voices chattering about a card game. Sliding up to the door, Hermione peered through as be she could before turning back to Ginny.

"There are four of them. It looks like they might be drunk. I can't see the door out though," she whispered in Ginny's ear. It wouldn't do to be heard.

Ginny turned enough to whisper back, "Do we take them out physically or with magic?"

"Physically. It's not at noticeable to wards and they're more than half tuned if I'm right. There were no less than three empty bottles of fire whiskey around them." Ginny nodded her understanding and the two slipped closer to the door. On the nod of three, Ginny slammed the door open so it banged into the wall of the room. Before the Death Eaters could jump from their chairs the two girls rushed into the room, Ginny going right while Hermione went left.

The first one Hermione encountered was still in his chair when she got to him and all it took to take him out was a hard kick to the chin. It was rather comical the way his eyes rolled back and his head thumped on the table. The second Death Eater jumped up in such a hurry that he tripped over his chair and fell backwards, cracking his head on the stone floor. If the blood oozing from under him was any indicator he'd just given himself a concussion at the very least.

One of the Death Eaters in front of Ginny rushed her, obviously intent on grabbing her. She slipped under his guard, dodging his reach and placing herself so he was between her and the killing curse his comrade had fired. Placing her hands on the chest of the now dead Death Eater she pushed him toward his killer as hard as she could. It worked, sort of, as the body fell as his feet and he jumped back. Unfortunately for him, Hermione was done with her goons and ready. She flashed a foot out to catch him behind the knees. Ginny winced when she heard the crunch of his knees on the floor. That _had_ to hurt. Ginny took three steps and whipped around viper fast to smash her heel into his cheek in a spinning kick. He was out before he slumped to the floor.

"Well, that was easy."

* * *

**A/N:** Reviewer cameo in this chapter, just as I promised. In fact, there are kinda sorta two. One is Julez (Julia) and the other is Kizunakat (Kat) since they were the first two to peg the movie reference I used. (SING from Miss Congeniality)

Anyway, check my profile page for an update on chapter progress-it'll be important in the near future.


	5. Chaotic Happenings

**Disclaimer:** Not from England, not a blond, not a published author. Being a mother is probably one of the few things I have in common with JK Rowling but owning anything within the Harry Potter world is certainly NOT a commonality. (Meaning I don't own it.) I'm just playing with her world because I'm unable to fleshout one of my own. Bummer.

**A/N:** Well, here's chapter 5...finally. This one is a bit shorter than the others before it but it is the end of the first arc and I'd really like to get to the second arc. Adding anything else to this chapter at this point would be just run on...and I'm positive there's already enough (if not too much) of that happening already. Anyway, enjoy!

* * *

"I've got an idea," Ginny grinned after they'd searched for and snapped all the Death Eaters' wands. "Transfigure something into a robe like theirs, put it on, and make sure to pull the hood up over your face. Since the robes are plain black I have no problem wearing them but I'll be damned if I will put on a mask like theirs. We can sneak around undercover and maybe get out of here without a fight."

"Good idea. We can use an obscuring charm or something similar to deepen the shadows so it'll be even harder to see our faces. Might not be a bad idea to set some booby traps while we're out and about too. The more random chaos we cause in the future, the more they'll have to deal with without knowing the cause," Hermione pointed out. In short order they had robes and had slipped out into the hallway, making sure the hoods of the robes were pulled forward far enough to hide their faces.

Moving swiftly the two made their way through the building, setting spells as they went. Spells for everything from icy slick floors at the top of a staircase to red-hot door handles and more was placed to cause at least some small degree of chaos. At least three times they heard someone yell or the sound of crashing behind them. At one point they were still close enough after one yell to peek around the corner they had just rounded in time to see one Death Eater slip on some ice at the bottom of an ice covered staircase and go crashing into a hot door handle groin first while his friend fell and knocked himself out on the bottom step. To make matters worse, a third Death Eater came thumping down the stairs on her bottom, squealing the entire way, and landed on the unconscious one. It was only through sheer willpower, despite the rather large amount of danger they were in, that Hermione and Ginny were able to keep from bursting into laughter as they hurried away to avoid being linked to the mishaps or worse, be found escaping.

It was surprisingly easy going until they arrived at the end of the hall they were following. In front of them was the entry of the rather large building they were trying to get out of. That entry and the surrounding halls were crawling with robed Death Eaters and it was getting very hard to move about without problems or notice. Slipping into a dark shadow in an out of the way corner they surveyed the surroundings.

It looked like they were slowly amassing for something, an attack most likely which was a chilling thought. The ceiling was high and vaulted, giving Hermione an idea. The doors weren't reachable as things were but they might be able to slip out through a window or another route mail owls took.

Leaning close to her redheaded friend Hermione whispered, "Gin, what do you think of flying out of here? It'd be safer than trying to navigate that mess."

Hermione almost let out a squeak of surprise when Ginny grabbed her and pulled her against her while leaning against the wall. "Pretend we're lovers," the redhead hissed in her ear before letting out a throaty laugh just loud enough to be heard by the two wizards who'd been walking their direction. Hermione didn't turn her face from where it was next to Ginny's ear but she heard the two Death Eaters laugh and make comments about some "lucky bastard" as they changed direction. Hermione was pleased to notice that they were heading toward one of the staircases with spots of ice on it. It wasn't nice but she really hoped the bastards slipped and at least broke a limb.

Ginny let go of Hermione and relaxed a bit. "Sorry about that. I couldn't think of anything else to keep them away."

"It's okay. Sometimes you've got to do what you've got to do. We'll just never tell the boys about that. They'd never let it go even if Ron is your brother. Now how about we get out of here?" Both girls were used to rather vulgar language and actions thanks to the exposure to such things over the summer courtesy of James and Sirius. There were limits to what they'd put up with and ribbing about something like that from Ron and Harry was not acceptable.

"Sounds like a good idea," was the response to both the comment about secrecy and getting out. Within seconds the two had slipped off their transfigured robes and were flying toward the ceiling where they perched to reassess their options. Noticing a couple of owls entering through an opening near the ceiling they took flight and slipped out unnoticed. Within minutes they were winging their way over the edge of the trees surrounding the fortress or whatever it was they had been in. Slipping down into the trees, Ginny noticed a pair of familiar animals watching them. With a quiet noise to get the other bird's attention she glided to the wolf and panther hiding in the trees.

After making sure they were completely alone, all four teens changed back to normal. The girls were promptly engulfed in hugs. "What happened?" Ron asked after he'd let go of Ginny, "Are you alright?"

"Some Slytherins decided that since they wanted us we were their property. Needless to say, that didn't go over too well and they're probably still knocked out in the cell they had us in," Ginny explained.

Harry crossed his arms, "But how did they get you out of the school and who were they?"

"Not a clue beyond that they drugged us with something," Hermione shook her head. "Luckily for us either it was a short term drug or our magic burned through it faster than normal because we were awake and alert when our captors visited us."

"Who was it?" Ron growled, an angry expression on his face. The girls exchanged looks, each wondering if they should say who.

Finally Ginny sighed, "Not now. The Death Gobblers are gathering for something. We didn't wait around to find out what though."

Harry gave her a look that said he was going to find out just who had taken them before he let it go, "Well, mum had a Dream you'd been taken and said something about danger and urgency that wasn't related to you being taken. Think that may be it?"

"Probably. How are we going to find out what is going on though?" Ginny answered.

Hermione suddenly shushed them, "Look over there…they're leaving." She pointed to the door of the large building she and Ginny had just been in. Small groups of Death Eaters were making their way through the trees off to the left. Without a word she changed forms and took to the air, coasting through the trees until she perched above where the Death Eaters were walking toward a small clearing. Her sharp hawk's eyes picked out the disappearing forms of the Death Eaters already there. Below her, she could hear the conversation of those moving and by listening carefully she was able to make out where they were going. Taking to the air again she hurried back to her friends, landing on her feet as she transformed on the wing.

"They're going to Hogsmeade! My guess is that we've got no more than five or ten minutes before they are all there and ready to attack." None of the others hesitated and within seconds all four of them had apparated silently back to Hogsmeade.

* * *

Harry ducked to avoid the oddly tinted purple spell whizzing his way even as he returned fire with a spell Lily had invented to cause the target to see no less than four of everything he or she focused on. Hermione had hit him with it once-after that he made sure to avoid getting hit with it. He'd had a headache from hell for three hours afterwards. It was apparently even worse for his target as the Death Eater cried out and with a moan dropped to the ground cradling his or her head as if in great pain.

All around him was madness. The D.A. members in town and the few order members that had managed to arrive already were certainly giving the Death Gobblers a run for their money. Off to his left Ginny and Hermione were giving a trio of Voldemort's henchmen hell while behind them a member of Luna's Healing squad was working on an Order member's cutup leg. It didn't look too serious from what Harry could see during the brief glance so hopefully the man would be back into the fight shortly. Ron was just to his right guarding another D.A. member who was hustling some children out of the way. Unfortunately not all of the younger students had been cleared from the town before the attack started but so far there had been no fatalities among the students. Not far up the street Neville was guarding Luna while she floated Colin, who'd been hit with a bone vanishing hex, out of danger.

Cursing under his breath as another spell came within inches of his head, Harry took a flying leap to get out of the way of the killing curse a second Death Eater had launched his way from behind a bench. Landing with a roll he stopped behind a fountain that had been at least moderately damaged. Hermione must have noticed him because she called something to Ginny and the two joined him.

"You alright Harry?" Hermione asked before firing a powerful nausea spell at Gobbler who had noticed another member of Luna's squad dodging spells to revive someone. The man, obvious by the rather blubbery build and voice, wavered on his feet before falling to his knees.

Harry took a few seconds to target the Death Eater who had shot the death curse at him and hit the robed figure with a powerful stunner. Wincing as his or her skull cracked the ground Harry answered, "I'm fine. Just dodging something I would really rather not get hit by."

Suddenly Ginny shot to her feet with a curse and sprinted away toward a hurt Terry Boot. By the time she got there all she had to do was stand guard so he could be healed enough to either get out of the fight or continue fighting. Hermione said something about good luck and took off after her red-headed partner. Harry himself turned to find his own partner had found him and was once again guarding his back.

"This getting a bit crazy," Ron said with a small grin as he spotted Neville use a tripping hex in a highly effective way. That was one nose that was going to be _very_ crooked even if it got healed.

"Yep." With that the two continued to battle the Death Eaters and guard those that needed it.

A bit later a loud shriek of rage rang out not far away from where Harry was fighting. Spinning on his toe he turned in time to witness Cho viciously engage a Death Eater who had been about to attack Luna while she worked on another student. Swearing harsh enough to make fresh paint peel, the black haired Ravenclaw displayed her skill with a wand by dropping the woman in under fifteen seconds before hurrying over to Luna. As she reached the younger blond, however, another Death Eater took aim and blasted her in the back with an orange spell. She hit the ground unconscious and bleeding while the Death Eater laughed madly. That was probably the last thing that particular Death Eater would ever do without help as no less than ten different spells slammed into him courtesy of some very mad D.A. members, one of whom was a dangerously angered Ginny Weasley. Meeting the eyes of his three best friends Harry nodded and all four turned to find targets upon which to take out their anger. With vicious flurries of spells, and some martial arts when close enough to employ their knowledge, the four were soon in the center of the action and putting many of the Order members to shame with the effectiveness of their spells and how they fought.

At one point Ron was battling one Death Gobbler magically while simultaneously taking out another in hand to hand. Harry even spotted him maneuvering the one to be hit by a nasty spell from his comrade. Ron then literally tossed the smaller, downed Gobbler onto the one who had hit him, resulting in a skull cracking against the ground and made a mental note to ask him how he pulled off that throw. Harry was dodging and flinging spells while using Death Eaters as body shields with a nasty fervor that would have stunned more than a few if they were able to take the time and think about it. More than once Harry would slip behind a Death Eater and jerk him or her around to block a spell from another. Later when people were remembering the battle more than one person would remember Harry somehow ending up in the middle of three Death Eaters who had been standing back to back in a small circle without them noticing. Once there he shouted, causing said Gobblers to spin and fire spells reflexively. Because Harry ducked even as he yelled the three hit each other and hit the ground with thuds.

Hermione was dancing and dodging about firing spells at a fast pace that was blinding if one focused on the lights coming from her wand. Ron let out a bark of laughter when he happened to spot her somehow change a Death Eater's robes into a pink tutu and leotard, his shoes into clogs, and then cause his hair to grow long enough to touch the ground before it wrapped him up like a mummy and he tipped over wiggling like a worm. _That girl is brilliant but just plain scary when mad!_ Ron thought to himself even as his foot snapped out and caught a Death Eater running by in the knee. As he turned to finish that one off, he spotted Ginny. _And she's just plain dangerous when mad. Mum has nothing on Ginny these days, _he idly thought.

Of the four of them, Ginny was the one who had taken to the blending of magical dueling and the physical style of the martial arts they had learned the fastest and easiest. She was twirling, ducking, and dodging spells smoothly even while casting spells like crazy. Once she bent back to dodge a spell, fired a spell at someone behind her while placed one hand on the ground, and kicked off with her feet to flip right side up again, kicking the Death Eater that was just within reach right under the chin.

It was not very long before the remaining Death Eaters turned tail and got out of there as fast as they possibly could.

* * *

The scene was familiar and so was the reason for it. Dumbledore was once again trying to find out information about and from the four teenagers. This time, however, the four defense professors were present as there was no way they were going to let the headmaster try to interview these particular students without at least one if not more of them present, especially after an attack that they helped thwart.

The headmaster started the meeting in his normal fashion, "Lemon drop?"

Hermione was the one that answered, "No thank you Headmaster. What did you want to see us about?"

"Ah," the bearded wizard reached forward and selected a sweet from the bowl for himself, "I was curious as to how you four were able to fight as you did today, among other things."

"A lot of hard work, training, research, and other various ways of expanding our knowledge and developing physical skills," the curly haired brunette answered again, the silver strands in her hair reflecting the light as she tilted her head to the side.

"And what of your schoolmates?" the aged man seemed to realize that was all he was going to get out of them, mainly because it was obviously the truth if one looked at their grades and habits over the school year.

"It started as a tutoring group with us helping others learn the material and then it just grew from there as more people found out about it," it was all Harry could do to not smirk at the way Hermione told the truth without giving anything about the D.A. away. He wondered what it would be like to watch her and Dumbledore match wits when they were both on relatively equal footing. Dumbledore had age and experience but Hermione was swiftly gaining experience herself to go along with her vast intelligence.

"A tutoring group?" Dumbledore seemed skeptical at first.

Ron fielded this one. "Sure. What else would you call a bunch of students gathering to get help with class subjects and such? People came to us for help on certain things and it kind of snowballed from there."

"I see," the headmaster glanced toward the defense professors but they were all calm. It seemed to become more and more likely that the students were telling the truth about this study group, at least in his mind. Still, he felt he needed to ask, "What certain things could you help them with?"

"Well Harry is best at Defense obviously. I'm the one people came to for help with Transfiguration, and Ron believe it or not is top in our year for Charms," Hermione replied.

"Don't forget about Gin. She's top in her year in Potions and probably in ours as well. She's even topped Hermione so I'd say she would be top in our year too," Harry glanced at the petite redhead. Both girls blushed, one because of the compliment and the other because she had been upset when Ginny proved to be more knowledgeable at Potions and better at brewing, despite being a year behind.

"And then there's the physical conditioning some of them wanted to learn," Ginny put in while her blush faded.

"Physical conditioning?"

"Yes. Some of the students saw us stretching one day before our workouts and were curious what we were doing. Once we explained it a bit they wanted to try and it spread from there. It became especially popular among the Quidditch players." Again Hermione was able to tell the truth without revealing anything. It was true that some D.A. members had spotted them stretching before a meeting and asked about it. Once it was explained just what the physical conditioning did for their health, and magical and physical stamina among other things a lot fewer of the members were against learning to fight via physical means. It was now a common occurrence to see D.A. members, especially the Quidditch players as the brunette had said, jogging around the grounds or going through Tai Chi katas in their spare time, even outside of D.A. meetings. Having noticed this increase in physical activity himself, the Headmaster nodded.

"Very well. I must thank you for helping your schoolmates with their studies but do try to stay out of fights such as what happened today in the future. And make sure you encourage your schoolmates to do the same." A sharp intake of air was heard from one of the Defense professors. A glance over would have shown a glare capable of melting metal, should such a thing be possible, aimed at the Headmaster from the only female professor present. The other three professors were visibly grinding their teeth but none of the four said anything. They had promised the four teens prior to the meeting that they would not interfere unless asked.

At the headmaster's words the faces of the four Gryffindor teens became blank while their eyes turned cold.

"What would you have had us students do today Headmaster? Stand still and wait for the Death Eaters to decide whether they were going to kill, torture, or even rape us?" Ginny's voice was full of derision. "If that is the case I would bet money that there are a great many parents who would like to be informed of that so they can pull their children out of the school and sent them to a safer one. One where the headmaster or mistress doesn't use the students as his personal pawns in a war he can't hope to win."

Dumbledore paled a bit at that and Harry decided to play a card he'd held back until now. He stood and leaned forward to place his hands upon the desk. When he spoke his voice was hard and his hard, emerald eyes were locked on blue, no longer twinkling ones.

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ... The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..." he recited before leaning back and continuing, his voice turning almost painfully cold. "You can't have it both ways old man. Either I stay out of things as you wish and this never ends or I take an active part in what is going on and eventually have the experience to drop Moldyshorts when it is time so people can live in peace. Hell, even if you were to decide that you want me to stay out of things, which you apparently have, it doesn't matter. You don't control me anymore and I'm not about to let you get away with trying anymore. Get that through your thick head and we may eventually see eye to eye one day. For now though…_back off!_"

With that the other three teen stood and followed Harry out of the office, leaving one Albus Dumbledore alone with four rather angry adults. As they descended the spiraling staircase they could hear Lily speak in a voice that was as cold as Harry's had been.

"Do you honestly think we're going to let you get away with that?"

* * *

A few hours later that same evening Harry stood in the Room of Requirement looking at the members of the D.A. that were not in the hospital. Thankfully there were few who were stuck in the domain of Madam Pomfrey who had been thankful for the potions Hermione and Ginny had delivered into her keeping as soon as they'd arrived back at the castle. The battle had ended hours before and the cleanup had been longer. All around him students were tired and leaning on each other for moral support as they tried to wrap their minds around the events of that morning. Somehow almost every member not in the hospital had convened here without thinking about it. Harry himself was probably the last one to enter the cozily setup room. Ron, Hermione, and Ginny were already sitting quietly in some cushy chairs in the back corner, half hidden by a couple of oriental screens brought about for some privacy.

Softly he cleared his throat, causing everyone to turn his way in the quiet. With an unsure smile he spoke. "I just wanted to let everyone know the good news. Cho is going to be alright," a cheer rang through the room, interrupting him. Chuckling a little he motioned for silence. It wasn't long at all before he got it. "It will, however, be a bit before she is released from the hospital wing but not long. Everyone else will be released in the morning or so Madam Pomfrey says."

With a small smile he looked around, meeting the eyes of everyone he could. "I'm very proud of how everyone acted today. Those in Hogsmeade did a phenomenal job at getting others out of the line of fire and taking down Gobblers. I'm not sure who did it but one of the Gobblers was found hogtied with his own hair. Great job and very inventive." At this a quiet Ravenclaw girl blushed and raised her hand when her friends pegged her as the one who did that.

"Luna's Healers did a fantastic job of preventing any deaths from injuries. In fact Cho's injury was the worst among those still hurt so fantastic job guys, even if I wish it had not been needed. Those who were still here at the school, I'm told, were instrumental in keeping order and the younger students calm once word spread about what was going on in town. Even if you didn't fight that doesn't mean you should feel any less of yourself than those who did. Every little bit done to help in a moment of crisis or need is a good thing and is something to be proud of." A quiet cheer rang through the room before people started wandering off to do their own things for the rest of the evening.

Once everyone had left Harry made his way toward where his three best friends were sitting. With a sigh he flopped into the open chair across from Ron before silently asking for a cozier and smaller setting. The Room complied by resizing and bringing about a small fireplace off to the side and dimmer lighting. A comfortable silence filled the room.

"Now what?" Ron asked.

"I don't know about you three but I think we need to raise people's spirits again. Today has been bad and I noticed that a bunch of the students are a bit depressed and scared."

Hermione tilted her head "What are you thinking?" she asked the smaller of the redheads present.

"How about some fun pranks? Stuff that will make people laugh."

Ron grinned, "With the bonus of making Snape mad because he can't pin it on anyone!"

* * *

"So, I'm thinking we need to have a little bit of revenge in the midst of all this," Ginny grinned a bit as she slipped into her bed in the trunk-room she shared with Hermione.

The curly haired genius rose an eyebrow, "What're you thinking exactly?"

"Nothing that will get them killed but a lot of stuff that will embarrass the hell out of them. The best part is that they'll know it's us but won't be able to prove it. And if they try to tell anyone they'd have to admit why they think it is us doing it."

"I am really liking this idea," a slow, almost nasty grin slid across Hermione's face to match the one already on Ginny's.

* * *

The rest of the year passed quietly yet humorously as a number of pranks were sprung on Hogwarts' students and professors. It didn't matter what house one was in either because all houses were equally targeted. In fact, the vast majority of the pranks hit the entire school at the same time.

One of the favorite pranks was an indoor rainstorm.

During breakfast a crack of thunder rolled through the Hall, causing many to look around. A young Hufflepuff gave a short squeal and pointed to the ceiling. Normally the enchanted ceiling showed the outside sky. Instead it wasn't visible around the dark, rolling clouds…clouds which started dropping rain down even as people looked at them.

Shrieks rang through the room as students tried to cover things they didn't want to get wet. Mild chaos ruled for a few minutes while students dove for cover, tried to cover items, or even enjoyed the rain. It wasn't until some younger Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors started laughing that people began to notice that while it _was_ raining not items were getting wet. The floor and walls were wet as were the tables but none of the items or even students themselves were wet. Even when Dennis Creevey deliberately jumped in a puddle he stayed dry, nor did he slip on the floor.

Another memorable prank was the day that the seats in the Great Hall randomly did something. About halfway through supper Vincent Crabbe jumped up with a scream and grabbed his bottom while backing away from his seat, eyes fixed on it. Snape sighed and made his way to him.

"What seems to be the problem Mr. Crabbe?"

The large boy pointed to his seat, "It bit me!"

"Excuse me?"

"My seat! It bit me!"

Before the potions professor could do or say anything further more voices rang out in giggles, squeals, and screams. In various places at each table students were either in fits of laughter or jumping up out of their seats with expressions of surprise.

"What licked me?" shrieked Marietta Edgecombe as she jumped and grabbed at her groin area. Eyebrows rose over that one even as others were saying their seat was tickling their legs or wiggling underneath them. Dumbledore himself ended up on the floor as his chair flat out up and dumped him out of it before going and sitting in the corner.

"I don't think you're going to be harmed Mr. Crabbe so sit back down," with that the snarly professor turned and went back to sit down. First though he made sure to dispel any spells on his chair. Off to his left he spotted the headmaster getting to his feet and looking toward the Gryffindor table. His black-eyed gaze turned that direction as well, in particular to four specific students.

Harry, Hermione, and Ginny were laughing at Ron. He'd been licked by his seat and had jumped up with a yell. After making sure all spells on his seat were dispelled he sat back down with a glare for his friends. "Why me?"

Ginny shook her head, "It was random. You know that; you're the one who helped Hermione with the spell combination. Ron grumbled under his breath about it. Just as he reached for the potatoes a shrill scream and a rough bellow rang through the room. All eyes swung toward the Slytherin table again. This time it was Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini who drew the attention but it seemed as if their individual chairs were not so mild in nature.

Zabini's had cornered him against the wall and was humping his leg like a dog might. In the relative silence brought about by mild shock one could almost hear panting emanating from it. Malfoy's seat was chasing him around trying to bit his behind. As he turned to run out the door it was easy to see that it had already been done once…the back of his pants had a hole in them and the chair that was chasing him had a bit of fabric hanging out of its "mouth." The laughter ringing through the room was only compounded when Zabini got away from the one on him and ran out the door after the blond. The chair was chasing after him.

Many students were laughing so hard they fell out of their seats but two in particular were enjoying the humiliation of the two Slytherins. Those two of course being the two fiery Gryffindor girls who set up the spells for the prank, with the extras, in the first place.

* * *

"Unbelievable," Ron growled as he stood with Harry, Hermione, and Ginny in a defensive circle while they battled it out with Death Eaters that had appeared on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Luckily, they hadn't attacked anyone else…unluckily they were hell bent on taking down the four teenagers and have blocked any possible aid from reaching them by using a strange dome type shield. Outside that odd dome D.A. members could be seen trying to figure out how to break through even while Order members arrived.

The four were holding their own, despite taking an almost entirely defensive stance, when a freak happening occurred. The D.A. and Order members were able to break down the holding dome, thanks mainly to Bill Weasley's curse breaking ability and knowledge. At the exact same time, four spells cast at the four Gryffindors collided with four shield spells that happened to overlap cast by those same students. A brilliant flash lit up the platform and knocked everyone flat due to the magical backlash of so many spells essentially colliding. When things stabilized the Death Eaters, being closest to the nexus of the spells, were sprawled unconscious on the ground and most everyone else was staring in shock.

The four Gryffindors were nowhere in sight and there was a large scorch mark where they _had_ been standing.

* * *

**A/N: **So, should I bother continuing? It could be a while before I'm able to get more written....we're moving at the end of the month plus I'm still going to school and taking care of my baby during all this. Just a fair warning!

* * *


	6. Not Oz

**Disclaimer:** I'm not Rowling nor those who own the rights to the second fandom this story plops into. Therefore, I own neither of them. In fact, if you recognize it as published works, I don't own it. I own (if you could call it that) the idea for this story.

**A/N** I know...I know...I'm awful. I made those who have followed me since I started this wait for YEARS! I can't give you an excuse but if you want the reasons for the crazy long wait, check out my profile. Finding my muse and coaxing her to be nicer to me might be a good idea though...the little brat ran away and then came back only to take a sabbatical, a vacation, and then claim "issues" while I was trying to get on with this story. She's a brat... Also...this is now officially a cross over...don't like, don't read. It will, however, focus primarily on the HP characters more so than the second fandom I introduce in this chapter.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore was going, to put it bluntly, spare trying to figure out what had happened to the four Gryffindors. He had multiple members of the Order trying to figure out what had happened. Currently he was sitting in his office listening to a report of their findings from Minerva, Severus, Filius, Tonks, and Bill Weasley. Bill was in the middle of his explanation of some spell work he had tried when he froze, staring off into space for barely a moment before jumping to his feet and rushing to the fireplace.

With barely a, "Something triggered the Burrow's wards," before he was gone and it took the professors a moment to react before they too followed. The sound of voices pulled them through the kitchen and out the back door where they found Molly, Arthur, Charlie, Bill, and the twins in various states of shock. It took less than three seconds to determine why.

Standing in the yard looking as if they were out of a fairy tale were four young adults. The two females were dressed in flowing gowns that barely rustled as they turned in place, small smiles on their faces. Red and brown hair was wrapped around their heads in braided crowns, keeping it free from snarls. The two males were dressed in tunics and pants that seemed to match the stylization of the gowns, making them appear as if they were dressed in a type of clothing from the Middle Ages; their shoulder length hair tied back in a tidy ponytail at the nape of their necks. Brilliant green eyes glanced at Albus, sending a shock wave through his body as he was able to finally get through his stunned mental state and put a name with the face. Before he could say anything though, the owner of those green eyes turned to the redheaded female and spoke in a language that, while lyrical and extremely beautiful, was foreign and not one he knew.

The one spoken to grinned and turned to Molly before taking a small step and holding her hands out. "Hello mum. We're home." That was all it took to break Molly out of her shock and she raced forward to engulf her daughter in a crushing hug before moving on to each of the others.

After the initial greetings, Harry slipped off to the side and contacted his parents using some method the headmaster couldn't identify. Very shortly the Potters, Sirius, and Remus were all joining in on the greetings. The Potters had blown their cover in the Order meeting immediately after the quartet had disappeared. The reactions had been spectacular but not the kind the white haired wizard wanted to dwell on. Lily had lit into him harshly with enough viable evidence that many of the Order members were beginning to doubt that he knew what he was doing. The fact that he'd done little to nothing to protect the students was only a fan to the flame of her temper.

Shortly after Harry's family arrived everyone was settled into the living room and chattering over each other, all trying to find out what was going on. Sirius whispered to Harry and Hermione that Lily had not been able to tell what had happened to them, only that they would be home safe eventually. Not that the four of them had told anyone else.

"First let me ask a question," Hermione jumped in over everyone peppering them with questions. "How long have we been gone and what happened from your points of view?"

"The attack took place roughly six weeks ago. To those of us there you four were surrounded and holding well defensively but we couldn't get to you because of a shield they had placed at their backs. All we know is that something happened that caused a magical backlash that knocked everyone down or out depending on how close we were to you at the time. When we gathered our bearings all that was left was a scorch mark where you had been," Tonks said quietly.

The curly haired brunette sighed in relief, "That isn't as bad as we had feared. We were afraid we would miss entire years or worse."

"What happened?" Charlie asked.

Ron, Ginny, and Harry all looked at Hermione. "We were caught in a spell reaction. At the exact same time four different spells impacted our overlapping shields and the magical backlash from the reaction tossed us elsewhere." Here she paused. "What does anyone know of dimensional worlds?"

"Very little," the headmaster answered even as most everyone shook their heads in befuddlement. Snape's expression held more than a hint of sourness yet he held his tongue. "All I know is that there is a theory that parallel or alternate worlds exist alongside our own but I have heard nothing to confirm or deny this."

Bill spoke, "I know a bit more. We've come across some stuff relating to this in some of the curse breaking we've done in the past. Basically put, the theory the Headmaster mentioned is correct. There are worlds other than this one but they are not so much parallel or alternate as they are simply more along the lines of entire worlds that are neighbors to each other in the ethos."

Hermione nodded, "That pretty much sums it up in a nutshell. What hasn't been mentioned though is that under very specific circumstances and at very specific times some of them will touch and travel between the worlds is possible. And that is what happened to us."

Gasps ran through to the room. Molly slumped against Arthur in a brief feint, one of the twins slipped right out of his chair and the other ended up spraying the mouthful of pumpkin juice he had taken right onto Charlie. Laughter broke the tension as Charlie glared at his brother and cleaned his rather sticky face off. Professor McGonagall briefly looked as if someone had smacked her head with a board before she gathered her composure and looked thoughtful. Remus and Tonks managed to keep their reactions quiet.

"You said you were worried about how much you had missed. How long were you gone from your point of view?" the Transfiguration professor asked once everyone had calmed.

Ron shrugged, Hermione coughed, Harry looked up at the ceiling, and Ginny's face split into a mischievous grin. "How old are you Headmaster?" she asked, her brown eyes sparkling.

"I fail to see how that is relevant but I am one hundred and seventeen this month."

The mischief in Ginny's eyes increased, "In that case we've got you beat by about two hundred years in age." The twin still on the floor choked on his drink and started coughing even as he stared at his siblings.

"You are most certainly not younger than the Headmaster by that much!" Professor Snape exclaimed, clearly thinking this was a joke of some sort.

"You mistake me Professor. I did not say we were younger nor did I mean that; I meant that we are older than the Headmaster."

_"What!"_ multiple people yelled before trying to exclaim that this could not be possible as loudly as possible. The din got so loud that none could be heard. Eventually the sound of laughter broke through the noise and everyone turned to see Ginny laughing full out while Hermione giggled quietly and the boys chuckled,

"I'm sorry," Ginny laughed, "but the looks on your faces were hilarious! I wish I'd had a camera!"

"So you were joking then?" Arthur asked. The relief that sparked was very short lived.

"No, I was not actually. But your faces were so funny I just couldn't help laughing."

"How can you be that old though? You don't look much different and you weren't gone that long," Charlie asked.

Hermione sighed, "We didn't age but to us we were gone for roughly three hundred years." Ignoring the gasps she turned to the headmaster, "Professor, do you know the charm that tells one's true age?"

Blue eyes twinkled, "I certainly do Miss Granger. Would you like me to perform it on each of you?"

"Please do."

In succession the headmaster performed the charm and indeed each teen was actually not a teen. Each was approaching three hundred and twenty years old. Silence filled the room.

"What happened to you?" Molly looked as if she was going to cry.

"We went to another world mum. Time moved differently there but we didn't age physically. It was a shock when we figured that out though it did help us in our quest to get home. It gave us the time we needed to find the answers to our questions. We were able to help friends, save lives, and defeat an evil that makes Muddyshorts look like a first year bully," Ron answered the question. Silence reigned again for a few seconds before a low grumble echoed through the room. Eyes turned to a blushing Ron. "Er…I don't suppose we could put off further explanations until after we've had a bite to eat could we? I'm starved!"

Laughter broke the tense mood and even as she wiped her eyes dry Molly promised everyone a small feast. With that she hurried out of the room and everyone dispersed with the agreement to reconvene over dinner to learn more of the tale.

On the way out of the room, one of the twins spoke, "Muddyshorts?"

Ron let out a sigh of contentment as he sat back in his chair. "Mum, that was fantastic. After three centuries of not getting to taste your cooking I was going spare!" Chuckles echoed around the table. Each of the students had taken the time to clean up and change out of the clothing they had arrived in before eating so it wasn't so glaringly obvious they had been gone. Yet it was. Each was different than they had been. Ron was more mature and courteous. Hermione seemed more world wise and calmer than before. Harry was much more relaxed and at ease with himself. Ginny seemed to be steadier than before, her temper barely sparking over things that would have caused anger previously. The single biggest difference was that not a single one of them objected to either Dumbledore or Snape being present. In fact, they were courteous and accepting of them, even going so far as to include them in conversation. Snape was shocked enough that he was, for the most part, civil with sardonic comments from time to time.

In the silence that followed Ron's comment, Harry sighed. "I suppose you would like an explanation now." Snape snorted, drawing an amused glance from Harry. "Yes, that was a rather stupid comment, I know."

"Yes, it was but sometimes stupid comments need to be made," Hermione interjected before anyone else could. Placing her cup down, she stood immediately followed by Ron and Harry. "Shall we move to a more comfortable sitting area?" The answer was affirmative and the entire group made their way into the crowded living room.

Once everyone was settled Ginny spoke, "I'll start since I'm the only one who actually remembers what happened right away when we got there. Just remember that we can't tell you everything, primarily because it was a long time for us and we've forgotten some of it. Anyway. The spells' reaction caused a huge flash of light. After that we all felt a huge surge with a pulling feeling and then everything went dark. The next thing I can remember is…"

* * *

Cinnamon brown eyes cracked open as Ginny groaned quietly in the back of her throat. Once her eyes were focusing a bit better than a complete fuzz out she was able to see the green of tree branches filled with leaves waving above her. Feeling as if her head was going to pop off and roll away she ever so slowly rolled to her side and spotted the other three teens around her.

Harry was slumped on his side facing her while Ron was just beyond him sprawled spread eagle on his back. Hermione was closest to Ginny, half on her side half on her back. Even as she glanced around Ginny spotted Harry start moving and crack open his eyes before he too let out a groan.

"What the hell happened? Where are we?" he mumbled even as he tried to sit up. Apparently he moved too fast because he groaned again, grabbed his head, and passed back out.

Deciding to take things a bit slower Ginny inched her way to her hands and knees, taking deeps breaths the entire way and stopping to gather her wits when dizziness threatened her consciousness. Finally achieving her goal, she slowly crawled around to her friends, relieved to find all three of them breathing. Just as she was reaching the last dregs of her energy she heard a noise. Looking up she spotted a small group of people watching from the edge of the tiny clearing they had somehow ended up in. It was obvious they had been caught off guard by the presence of the quartet as they looked a bit surprised but nothing in their behavior gave Ginny a clue as to whether or not they were friendly other than gut instinct. She didn't see any other choice though and even as she passed out next to her brother a single word whispered through her lips.

"Help?"

* * *

"The next time I woke up I was tucked into a bed and felt like I'd slept for a week or so. Turns out I had. We were another week in recovering," Ginny finished the start of their tale.

Bill couldn't help himself, "What happened? Who helped you?"

"Well the three that I saw initially were two brothers and a friend of theirs. It was their father that saw to it that we recovered with his daughter helping him. We were essentially placed in a type of hospital wing but the rooms were smaller, more like a muggle hospital. Ginny and I were in one room; Ron and Harry were in the next room over. The two rooms did share one big balcony though so when we were able to get up and move, the four of us were able to sit together and compare notes," Hermione explained. "As for where we were…well you may or may not believe it. Ginny and I couldn't believe it at first. The boys simply didn't know."

"Where were you?"

"Arda. Middle Earth." Severus Snape had to control the reaction to do a spit take with the sip of tea he'd just taken while Remus just barely managed to avoid dropping his cup. Lily simply stared at the four of them in shock; the tale of middle earth had been a favorite of hers as a child.

After making sure he wasn't a dripping mess the potions master spoke, "Surely you jest!"

The brunette raised an eyebrow and looked him square in the eyes, "Do I look like I'm joking about this to you Professor?" He couldn't answer in the affirmative and she soon continued. "For those who don't know, Arda, or Middle Earth, is the setting for a series of fictional writing here on Earth. We suspect the author was a type of Seer who was able to view some of the events, if a little short on details. Has anyone besides Lily, Professor Snape and Remus heard of the Lord of the Rings trilogy or the Hobbit?" The headmaster, Professor McGonagall, Tonks, and Bill all indicated they had at least heard of the stories.

"That was the world we ended up landing in."

Suddenly Remus paled, "So the great evil you helped defeat was…?"

Harry nodded. "Ultimately it was Sauron but that is getting ahead of our story by quite a bit."

Ron took up the thread of the story next. "For the first week or two after we woke up we were pretty unsteady so we took it easy. After that we got back into the swing of our routine as much as possible. That didn't last long as we discovered there were many new things to learn."

* * *

Ron was standing off to the side of a training ring watching his sister go through the routine she had set up to keep her body limber and strong. As far as he was concerned, she was poetry in motion and amazing to watch. Of all of them, she was the strongest at hand to hand combat, primarily because of her agility and flexibility. It took all of his self control to not jump when a voice sounded just behind him.

"What is she doing?" When Ron turned he saw the twins, Elrohir and Elladan, standing there watching his sister. Their expressions were puzzled which, as Ron had discovered, was fairly rare to happen with elves.

Turning back to watch his sister Ron answered easily, "She's doing a warm up kata. It is meant to help limber up her muscles before she practices or spars."

"She fights?"

Ron nodded. "We all know how to fight unarmed, she's just better at it than we are. As far as weapons go, though, we don't know a thing unless you count our wands which we've discovered are useless here." Ron didn't mention Harry's trunk. They didn't know about it and none of the four could get it to return to its full size so they could open it so there was no point.

The right hand twin raised an eyebrow, "Your magic sticks do not work? Do you know why?" The quartet had discussed their past with their host and his three children.

Hermione walked up at that point and answered before Ron could. "We think it is most likely because the items they are made from are not from here. Not native, so to speak."

"Well," Elrohir said, "if your weapons are ineffectual, why not learn how to wield new ones?"

"That's a good idea actually. We can learn some of the various languages, histories, and the geography too," Hermione mused as she watched Ginny end her kata.

"Where do we start though? I've seen so many different weapons being used here," Ron asked, clearly eager to start learning the physical stuff before the mental.

Elrohir shrugged, "With the basics. We'll start you off with a simple sword and see how you handle it. Not everyone likes them so we will look to other options if a basic sword doesn't work for some of you. Later on we'll see about helping you with the rest. Father and Arwen may be of some help with that as well."

Ron grinned, "Great! Let's get started!"

Time flew after that as the four teens learned how to use new weapons and studied about the world they were now in. Hermione was in her element learning about Arda while Ginny was just as excited since she'd loved the stories since the first time she'd read them back home. The boys took a bit longer to get into it but once the girls started quietly explaining what had happened and what was going to happen they started taking a sharper interest themselves.

The physical part was of interest to all of them but Harry seemed to pick up learning to use the sword better than the rest. He did have an edge, no pun intended, in his ease though thanks to his experience wielding a sword in the Chamber, however clumsily he had done so. Ron could wield one well enough to defend himself but it felt a bit small and wrong to him. Elrohir took him to the blacksmith in Bree where he discovered he had an affinity for the balance of an axe, specifically a dual bladed battleaxe. His ease at wielding it made it appear as if he were born to do it, although he wasn't greatly skilled at it at the beginning. Practice and training were a high priority on the boys' list of things they were particularly interested in.

Ginny and Hermione both had some difficulty learning to wield a sword. Hermione found them to be too heavy and ungainly for her to use most of the time, even using both hands. It felt too slow for her. Ginny just felt as if the entire weapon was too large and cumbersome.

* * *

"Blades are dangerous!" Molly couldn't seem to help blurting out, cutting of Ron's dictation of their tale. Silence rang for all of two seconds before all four travelers started laughing. Molly huffed before she spoke, "I don't see what is so funny!"

Harry gathered his control the fastest. "It is just that there, blades are the normal method of self defense. While wands are normal here, there magic is a rarity. Besides that, with the exception of distance weapons such as bows or thrown daggers, a weapon is only dangerous in close quarters. A wand, on the other hand, is usually used at a distance. We really didn't have a choice if we were going to survive and find a way home."

"I still don't see why you had to learn how to use weapons like that! Especially you girls. It is bad enough that you know how to fight at all, even without weapons. Why would you need to learn to use weapons when there are others better at-" Her building rant was cut off sharply.

"You want to know why?" Hermione snapped. "I'll tell you why. A close friend's mother was attacked by orcs before we got there. Not only was she forced to watch those defending her die, she was tortured! I don't know if there was any rape involved but she was never the same again. In fact, to fully heal she had to leave and go to Valinor where she wouldn't be able to see her family again until or unless they sailed west themselves!"

"Elrond's wife," Remus murmured.

Hermione nodded with a sigh. "I'm sorry Molly. It is just that there, if you don't know how to defend yourself things are much harder and we had the ultimate goal of finding our way back home. If we hadn't learned how to defend ourselves in every way possible I strongly doubt we would have survived to make it back here."

"Besides, while the boys liked their big, bad weapons, we," Ginny motioned to herself and Hermione, "preferred lighter weapons for the most part since we had to rely more on agility than strength."

"At any rate, we learned more about where we had landed and how to survive there long enough to get home. Eventually we started venturing out of Imladris," Hermione continued their tale. Ginny let her mind wander back to the time Hermione was talking about.

* * *

Ginny looked up from her task when she heard hooves thumping against the ground and moving in her direction. Entering the clearing she was working in was Hermione, a grin on her face. "Hey Gin. Ready to head back yet?"

"Yeah. I've got everything I needed to get," the redhead nodded and stood before brushing the grass and dirt off the knees of her breeches. Looking around her she sighed, "I can't believe we got here over five years ago already. Do you think we'll ever get home?"

Watching Ginny loop her herb bag around her shoulders before mounting her own horse, Hermione answered, "I think we will but not until we learn more about how magic here works. For that though we need to get out of Imladris."

"I know. That's why we're getting all of this stuff ready but sometimes I can't help but worry."

"I do too. Now come on, we have to get back before the boys decide to do something stupid and leave without us. I know we agreed to split up but I would like to at least go to Lothlorien together." With that the two rode out of the clearing and back to meet Ron and Harry.

A few days later the four Gryffindors were en route to their destination with Elladan and Elrohir along as guides and companions. It had been decided that they would venture out into the world and Lothlorien was their first stop. They needed to learn more about the world they had landed in than the stories from home had told and try to discover a way to get home. The only way that was possible was to go out into that world. None of the four were under any illusion that it would be an easy task but all were determined to find the solution they needed while helping the place they currently called home as much as they could. Knowing what they knew of future events they figured even a little help was more than there was before.

They arrived in Lothlorien with little trouble along the way and were soon settled for a lengthy stay. That evening they dined privately with the Lord and Lady of Lothlorien. After a delicious meal during which they told their tale, Celeborn asked what they would be doing next.

"With your permission we would like to stay here for a while and learn. We all could use some more teaching in weapon work, myself and Hermione especially as we seem to be having a difficult time finding ones we particularly like even though we can defend ourselves reasonably well," Ginny answered. "We are also hoping to discover a way to get home but that, I feel, is going to take quite some time."

"Indeed. I believe we have the ability to assist you in the former but of the latter, I am unsure. Only time will tell," the lady Galadriel mused. "We can also assist you in learning more of Arda if you wish."

"Please. I fear that we're rather short-changed in certain aspects of this world," Hermione answered diplomatically. The rest of the meal and a little of the evening afterwards was taken up by discussion about what the four wanted to study, learn, or practice in.

Time passed as it tends to do and a fair number of months had passed before there was a change major enough to mark note of in Lothlorien. The son of another elven king arrived for an extended visit, both to discuss business and to further encourage relations between the two elven domains. Legolas was known to the quartet as he and the twins were the ones Ginny asked for help when they first arrived. The four of them spent a goodly amount of time enjoying his company but one morning in particular set a spark off that had been simmering for quite some time.

Ron was wandering around looking for Hermione. He'd tried all of her normal haunts and had resorted to asking a few servants if they knew where she was. Finally discovering her whereabouts he made his way to the secluded training area he had been directed to. Hearing her laughter before he saw her, he paused at the edge of the clearing to watch her. She was with Legolas and currently they were tangled together on the ground, her on her back with him trying to hold himself up to avoid crushing her as they tried to get untangled, both laughing helplessly. Ron froze, unable to move or speak. As the two in front of him finally got control of themselves and made to stand, he shook himself and turned to leave without announcing his presence.

Not bothering to pay any real attention to his surroundings, he didn't notice Ginny trying to get his attention as he made his way to his current lodgings. Nor did he notice Harry enter the door and watch silently as Ron began moving around and gathering up his belongings. At least, he didn't notice until Harry put himself squarely into the redhead's path.

"What the _hell_ are you doing Ron?"

"Leaving. I have to."

Green eyes were puzzled as a dark eyebrow raised, "Why?"

Finally Ron raised his blue eyes up to Harry's green ones. "I can't be here while she's with someone else."

Harry's eyes widened involuntarily, "Hermione? She's not with anyone Ron!"

Flinging out a hand in the direction he had come from his temper snapped, "Then explain what I just saw! They were all over each other! I can't handle watching her with someone else. I just can't Harry." Ron paused and then rubbed his hand over his face. "I'm sorry."

Seeing the heartache his best friend was going through Harry put his hand on his shoulder. "Alright. I won't try to talk you into staying but I _am_ going with you." Ron opened his mouth but Harry cut him off, "No arguing with me on this or I let your sister have a go at you!" Ron gave him a shadow of a grin.

"Thanks mate."

Within the course of a couple hours the two young men had packed their belongings, said their goodbyes and excuses to the Lord and Lady of the realm, and left. Harry did, however, leave a note of explanation behind for Ginny and Hermione. Ron simply left a goodbye note saying he needed to get away.

Ginny entered her rooms late that evening after hours of losing herself in studies of geography, languages, and cultures to find two small white squares of paper waiting for her on her bedside table. Picking them up she recognized Ron's writing on one and Harry's on the other. It was the course of a few minutes to discover the contents of each and when finished she sat numb and in disbelief of what had happened. A knock on the door shook her to awareness. Opening the door she found Hermione standing there, tears streaming down her face and two papers in her hand. Without saying a word, Ginny pulled her into a hug and shut the door.

The two compared notes and talked far into the night before they decided to heed Harry's advice and not go chasing after them. He seemed to feel that Ron needed some time away to put things into a better perspective and to allow things to settle down before the four of them faced each other again. He had, however, promised to write them and at least keep the two women updated on where he and Ron were.

Hermione groaned awake the next morning, eyes and head aching. She wasn't sure when she had returned to her own rooms but it had been dreadfully late and she had indulged in one more good long cry before falling asleep. Scrubbing her face and sitting up, the brunette vowed to herself that she would get a grip and deal with this as best she could by not moping about. After briskly and quickly getting ready for the day she set off looking for Legolas.

She found him in the same training area Harry had said Ron had come upon them in the day before. He was practicing his archery while he waited for her to arrive. Hearing her arrive he turned to her, a serious expression on his face.

"Ginevra told me what happened," he said solemnly. "I am sorry if I have caused problems for you."

"You didn't," Hermione gave him a small smile, pulling a pair of long practice daggers from the sheaths at her back. "Now, shall we pick up where we left off yesterday?"

* * *

Hermione was jolted out of her thoughts and looked around to realize that Ginny had finally called a halt to relating their story to the others when she started to lose her voice a bit. Hermione had long since passed off the tale to one of the others and sat back, her tired mind wandering back to the events of years before. Glancing at the clock as the others got up to head home or off to bed she realized that it was ridiculously late. It was generally agreed that the group would meet again the next day to continue the tale.

Molly paused at the door of the living room and opened her mouth to speak before closing it again and shaking her head. Ginny spoke, "Yes mum? What is it?"

"I was going to tell you to not stay up too late but I guess you're old enough to know that already, as odd to me as that is. I think it will take some time for me to get used to it," the redheaded mother's eyes filled with tears as she looked at her youngest child and only daughter, seeing a wise and experienced woman looking back at her.

"Don't worry mum, we'll always need you around." Ginny paused briefly before she spoke again, "but you should sleep. We'll be up for a while yet I think because it was morning when we left but for you it was late afternoon. For us it is still evening but it shouldn't take us long to get used to the time change." Here the redhead paused again for a moment, "Just don't be too surprised if we're hard to find for a bit tomorrow. We won't have left." Molly smiled slightly at the assurance in her daughter's voice, a bit grateful for the warning.

"Good night then dears," she said before passing hugs around to her children, both actual and honorary.

They sat and quietly soaked in the atmosphere of the Burrow for a bit before Harry stood and stretched, "Shall we?" The others nodded and follow him out into the back yard and to the backside of Mr. Weasley's shed where he pulled a tiny box out of his pocket and set it down against the building before touching the top as he stepped back. After the trunk grew to full size the four of them slipped into the interior of the trunk, all quiet as their thoughts wandered back to the topic of the evening.

* * *

The next time Ginny saw her brother was over two years later. Harry had come to Lorien to get her help in dragging Ron out of the funk he had slipped into. It didn't take her very long to decide that she was going to her brother. She set out immediately, leaving Harry in Hermione's care as the poor man was absolutely drained and distraught upon his arrival.

Now well use to the methods and requirements of travel of the world they were now in, Ginny was well prepared for her journey. She made good time reaching Imladris where she rested after at least two weeks of hard travel. While there she took the opportunity to speak with the Elrond's twin sons to find out what they knew of her brother and his current state of mind. They couldn't tell her much as they had left his company some months before Harry had but they had seen Harry on his way through Imladris to get her help. Once she told them what Harry had told her, they readily agreed to help her find Ron and bring him back to the elven city to recuperate.

Thus it was that Ginny was staring at her brother from across a bar room in Bree where he was doing his best to get and stay drunk for the night. She had slipped in quietly some time after the twins, who had found and joined her brother the day before, had, and Ron entered. With her long red hair bound up and her cloak covering as much of her as was possible, it wasn't too surprising that she was thought to be a ranger from the north. Once she had seated herself in a dark corner that offered her a clear view of the room, and incidentally her brother, she settled in to wait and watch.

What she saw was disheartening. Harry said that he thought Ron had given up and from what she saw, he was right. Unless of course, it was in trying to find a way to self destruct. He was clearly not taking care of himself judging by his weight loss and haggard appearance, never mind the obvious fact that he was drinking as if he were trying to forget the world around him. The twins were trying to engage him in conversation but from what she could tell it wasn't working. Finally one of them caught her eye and gave the minutest of shrugs. She sighed and nodded back, having decided how she was going to handle her brother. Fortunately for her plan, it was nearly closing time for the bar.

Slipping up to the end of the bar, she signaled the owner who was working the bar that night. "What can I get you?"

Pulling her good back just enough that her face was clearly visible to him and no one else she spoke. "I need to get my brother out of here before he kills himself," she nodded toward her brother.

His eyes followed her nod and landed on a very drunk Ron sitting blankly between the twins as they chatted with others around them. His eyes darkened just a bit. "He is going to drink himself to death at the rate he is going. Do you need any help getting him out of here?"

Ginny let out a silent breath, thankful that there would be no resistance from the one who could cause the most. "No, the two with him are my help. They'll help me get him out once I take care of him."

"Very well little lady. You take care of your brother, I'll deal with the rest," he gave her a nod before moving toward the other end of the bar. Ginny didn't waste time and slipped through the room to stand behind Ron. Pulling out one of her daggers, she swiftly rapped him on the back of the head sufficiently hard enough to knock him out. Elladan had seen her approach and was ready to catch Ron. Once she'd conked him, the patrons around them took notice.

The silence permeated the room until the owner cleared his throat. Once most of the eyes had landed on him he indicated that he was aware of what was going on and clearly supported Ginny's actions. As everyone realized this it was as if a huge sigh went through the room, relaxing the atmosphere. With any immediate problems avoided, the small redhead and her two brunette assistants bundled their large bundle out of the bar.

Three weeks later saw a sober Ron tucked comfortably into Imladris. He'd gotten over his anger with Ginny's actions once she had explained her reasoning behind them and how worried for him Harry had been. It had taken some time but when he had been unable to land a blow on Ginny in his angered, drunken state he had really had no choice but to listen to her even as he was cussing her name left, right, and center.

Once they had arrived, Ginny had sent a message off to Hermione and Harry to inform them that she had found Ron and brought him to the elven refuge. A month later at the most saw the quartet reunited once more. The greetings were a bit strained but Ginny didn't allow anyone to dwell on the tension as she had noticed something that she felt they needed to talk about. After she had corralled the other three onto her balcony and supplied drinks and food she began.

"I don't know about you guys but I've noticed something over the last few years that rather scares me." When the others indicated that she explain, she asked, "How old are we now?"

"I'm almost twenty-seven," Hermione answered. Ginny could see the gears grinding in her head as she answered that question almost absently. "But you're barely two years younger than me and you don't look any older physically than you did when we arrived here!"

"I think we're essentially immortal while we're here, unless we get killed of course," Ginny commented softly. "Unless we're just aging very slowly but that doesn't make sense to me based on how I've felt over the last few years." Ron and Harry froze as they processed this.

The girls ignored them as Hermione started to bounce in her seat a little, "We can find a way home; even if it takes years!"

"I was thinking something along those lines also. Of course, we run into the danger of years passing back home before we can get there but I find it is a chance I want to take."

By now Ron and Harry had jolted back to awareness, "So, what do we do?"

Hermione got a twinkle in her eye the foretold mischief, "We learn."

"I don't know about you but I want to travel more. See things we haven't yet. Maybe see if there are some different magics we can learn too to try and figure out how to get home," Ginny pondered aloud.

"Do you know where you want to go first?"

"West, out past the Shire first I think. I would love to see Laketown and Erebor but there's a dragon in that mountain right now and I've no desire to become a treat," Ginny mused. Each of the others fell silent as they pondered what they wanted to do to both pass the time and learn what they could in an effort to return home. They passed the evening in discussion of their plans for the foreseeable future before Ginny claimed she was exhausted and going to bed, thus kicking the others from her room.

Once in the hall Hermione reached out as if to touch Ron's arm but he stepped back and turned away to go to his rooms. He hadn't believed Ginny or Harry when they told him Hermione wasn't with Legolas. After all, why would she want to be with him when she could be with a prince? No matter what they had tried to convince him, Ron was stubborn in his belief.

Watching his sister in all but blood curl into herself in emotional pain, Harry decided that he was going to get through to Ron one way or another. Gathering the curly haired brunette into his arms for a hug he made a suggestion. "Why don't you go with Ginny when she leaves in a few days? Before you leave you can tell him how you feel about him and Legolas and then let him stew on it for a while. I'll pound it into him repeatedly too so he'll eventually get it through his thick head. Maybe Legolas can help me if needed."

"He'll just end up hating me!" Hermione's voice shook from suppressed sobs.

"No he won't, he doesn't and he never has. Not even when he was mad because you could cast the levitation spell before him. I think he fell for you on our very first trip to school, he was just too young and immature to realize it."

Hermione lifted her head, "Do you really think so?"

"Would you believe that he hasn't so much as expressed a passing attraction to anyone since we got here? Not even one of the elves?" Harry's smile was charmingly crooked.

Hermione did indeed travel westward with Ginny a week later while Harry and Ron went south toward Rohan and Gondor. The quartet had plans to meet in two years time in Lorien. The two women traveled at a leisurely pace, content to enjoy the soft summer weather. They decided to take a route that would take the north of the Shire itself since they were hoping to visit the dwarven kingdom that had been established in the Blue Mountains.

They were somewhere north of the hobbit town Hobbiton and resting alongside a large creek, enjoying the shade provided by a bunch of trees surrounded by some heavy bushes. Ginny was lounging contentedly and listening to the whisper of the water over the rocks. Hermione, however, was edgy.

After she had shifted her position for the fifth time in under two minutes Ginny rolled her eyes, "Honestly Hermione. What is wrong? You're worse than the twins on a sugar buzz after they've pulled a prank of epic proportions."

Brown eyes scanned the area around them as if she expected something to jump out at them. "I don't know. I just have this feeling that something bad is coming this way,"

"You develop a second sight or something?"

"No; but it almost feels like the wind is trying to tell me something. I swear I am hearing voices other than ours but I can't see anyone else."

Ginny blinked, a bit stunned by Hermione's explanation. "Say what?"

Hermione shook her head, slowly standing up with her eyes fixed in a particular direction. "The feeling gets stronger when the wind hits my face and ears. I don't know how to explain it any other way." Here she paused before spinning around and grabbing her packs. "Hide! Quick!" With that she dove into the brush where their horses were resting in the tiny clearing created by the trees and bushes. Ginny didn't hesitate and immediately followed.

No more than five minutes later she spotted a small group of what could only be bandits slinking over the hill. Eternally grateful that their horses were of those the elves bred and thus could be keep quiet, Ginny placed her hand on the nose of her horse to calm her. Hermione was doing the same with her own horse, her eyes fixed on the bandits. It wasn't long before they were close enough to hear them speaking and what they were saying wasn't friendly.

When they came upon where the two women had been resting they looked around at the prints they had made in the grass. One of them snarled, "I get the redhead bitch."

"Fine by me; I want the other bitch first anyway." A nasty grin spread across his face, "but once you're done with her, I'll have a go at the red head myself."

The other five sent up a chorus of complaints at this. The apparent leader of the bunch said, "Shut it or I'll stuff a blade in your belly. You lads will get your turn with them after we have had our fill." That apparently satisfied them as they began to wax poetic, if it could be called that, about what they intended to do to the women once they caught them.

Silently Ginny touched Hermione's elbow to get her attention. Blazing cinnamon brown eyes met furious chocolate brown eyes and they both nodded. Slipping their blades free of the sheaths they signaled their horses to remain still and silent before Ginny whipped a hand forward and a dagger flickered in the sunlight before it buried itself in the neck of the bandit leader. Before the dagger even found its mark the two had exploded from the bushes blades swinging.

The first bandit Ginny reached didn't really have any time to react before she had stuck her short sword into his belly. Yanking back, she kicked him back into another bandit and knocked them both to the ground. Turning she blocked a swipe from a third bandit before lashing out with the pommel of the dagger she held in her left hand and connecting solidly with his nose. A disgusting crunch sounded and blood blossomed as he yelled and fell back. Glancing over her shoulder she had just enough time to dodge an attack from behind. This one had gotten untangled from his compatriot and was bound and determined to take her out. She bent sideways at a sharp angle while swinging her leg up, letting her momentum carry her around and back upright. Her foot had managed to catch him just right and he had somehow stuck his sword into the side of his neck. Even as his eyes glazed over and he fell over the thought crossed her mind that she would never figure out how that had happened exactly.

Hermione had dealt with the first bandit she came across as quickly as Ginny had, using their element of surprise to full effect. The second she had dropped after a short exchange of blades but she had managed to dispose of him when he got distracted by Ginny's wild dodging kick. Her third opponent, however, was a different story. He was the first bandit that had spoken when they came upon where the two women had been sitting. This one, she discovered, was able to make the demands he had because he was highly skilled with the sword he wielded against her. The two exchanged blows for a while before Hermione got unlucky and slipped on a patch of bloody grass and fell to her knees. Looking up she saw the blade of her opponent falling down in a deadly arch.

Ginny turned back to her third opponent as he came at her again and she dodged his wild blow, his vision seriously hampered by the pain of a broken nose. Blocking his next attack with her dagger she shoved her sword into his but as hard as she could. Even as he fell she saw Hermione land on her knees. Barely pausing to think she jerked her opponent's weapon out of his hand even as she flung her dagger at the man in front of her closest friend, hoping against hope that she was able to stop that sword.

Her aim was true and her dagger hit him in the shoulder, throwing his aim off enough that Hermione was able to get out of the way. Ginny hadn't waited to see if she hit her target. Instead she hurled herself after her weapon as fast as she could move and got there just as he recovered and switched his sword to his other hand. He swung and she brought up the weapon she had swiped. She managed to catch the sword at the same time she slammed her other fist into his stomach. Hermione had recovered by this point and ended the fight with one decisive thrust of her sword into his ribs. Once he fell the silence around them was so heavy it rang in their ears.

"Are you hurt?" Ginny asked. This wasn't the first time either of them had killed a person; traveling could be hazardous at times. Ginny had actually been sick behind a bush after the first time she had used one of her blades to kill a person; orcs didn't count. Hermione hadn't been much better. Ron and Harry refused to talk about it.

"No. I slipped."

The two quickly searched the bodies of the bandits, gathering the few supplies and any money they carried as well as a couple of weapons. The blade Ginny had taken from her opponent wasn't so much a blade as it was a spike with two curved spikes going out from opposite sides. There were two that the bandit had carried. She also took a few throwing daggers.

"Those are sais!" Hermione exclaimed when Ginny showed them to her. "I didn't think anything like those existed here."

"What's so special about them?"

Leading her horse out of the brush, on the opposite side from the dead bodies, Hermione explained. "If memory serves me correctly and I understood what I read right, they're not really for slashing like a sword or dagger. The tines and center spike are designed for stabbing and catching bladed weapons, exactly like you did actually."

"I'm thinking I need to get better quality ones then because I like the way these feel."

* * *

A/N: And thus their adventure in Arda has begun. It will told as sequential flashbacks with inserts of the current time at the Burrow. Just to clear up any confusion as to how I formatted this chapter.

I do wish to point out something: I am not so good at writing romance unless I am in a particular frame of mind...and my mind wasn't there for a good bit of this chapter. Action, especially hand to hand or armed combat...well that I can do at the drop of a hat. However, for those who are itching to see more of the romance end of things...well I think that will be making a more solidified appearance in the following chapter or two ;) So...how much trouble can our quartet get into in Arda? I've got a _few_ ideas for that. ;p


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